Original Sin
by Leah Naberrie
Summary: Kai Parker absorbed a lot of traveller's magic and it was all gone by the time he woke up. Where did it go? Maybe it followed its nature and travelled, taking Kai along for the ride, wrecking havoc along his path to the girl of his obssession. Takes place between 6x11 & 6x12 (a very long missing scene!). Warning: WWBH fic with dubious consent.
1. Traveller's Magic

**Traveller's Magic**

It had filled him to the brim, and now it pushed against his skin, threatening to ooze out like gas from a punctured tyre. All that magic from the Traveller's spell. More magic than he had ever wielded in his life. And it was still only a fraction of what he'd control as coven leader. He couldn't wait.

Only now, thanks to those meddling vampires and Sissy's bae, it was trapped in his body, as he struggled through the heavy dose of sedatives that Jo had illegally pumped him with.

But his sister should have known better. This was Traveller's magic. It wasn't just going to stay locked down, nor was it just going to seep harmlessly away. Like Kai, the magic was in prison – in the prison of his body, of this time. And like Kai, it wanted to escape.

So they both did.

It was _Traveller's_ magic, after all.

* * *

 **Author's note** : Tumblr BK fandom may know this story. It's my WWBH (Wrong-wrong-bad-hot) guilty pleasure writing fic. (Well some people think it's hot; but we all generally agree it's wrong-wrong-bad). The warnings for dub-con and underage hanky panky are not for fun so please if this offends you, don't read it.


	2. Arrival

**Arrival**

The first thing Kai saw was Bonnie Bennett, in a short red uniform and pom-poms laughing and fooling around in the middle of a group of similarly clad girls as a woman with a camera tried to call them into order. Her hair was longer, dark curls that hung all over her smooth, carefree unburdened face – a mischievous face with laughing eyes and a cupid bow mouth that was twitching to giggle, gossip or be kissed. Hard.

He tore his gaze from her long enough to look at the others in the group – and he saw Elena Gilbert and the blonde girl that was the third part of their group. They were in the middle of the gymnasium, other students milling around. Kai was just one more in the crowd. Nobody had even noticed when he appeared a few meters from the camerawoman. There was a banner over the makeshift stage but he didn't need to look at it to realise where or rather – when this was.

Because Kai had already recognized this moment – from the picture in the high school trophy room. This was the moment it was taken.

The magic had pulled him out of his time to the image that he had been carrying in his head without even realizing how deeply it had implanted itself there.

Kai had told Elena the truth – he didn't care about anyone, least of all a slip of a teenage witch who thought she could beat him at his own game. Bonnie Bennett who had killed him when he tried to help her, and crossed him at every turn, and was silly enough to think sending away her magic was going to stop him from getting out. He was going to leave her locked up in his prison world for so long that by the time he came to see her, she would be appropriately grateful.

If, after he broke out of prison, he thought of Bonnie more often than he needed to. Or he compared every girl he met to her and found them strangely lacking. Or an old black-and-white picture of her made him want to see her face in real time badly. It didn't mean anything. She was the first girl he had seen in eighteen years. It was imprinting and all that psycho crap and with enough time, this hang up of his would fade away.

So he dreamt about her. Of doing specific things to her, with her. Dreamt constantly. In vivid, explicit detail. Sometimes even when he was not asleep.

He was a man after all. Once he got the small matter of merging with his disloyal twin and becoming an all-powerful witch, he would deal with certain specific needs.

It was just that… the spell bringing him here was extremely irksome. Because once more he was confronted with Bonnie Bennett's gorgeous body, and perfect mouth and it proved as much a distraction now as it did when he first found her in 1994.

He gave her one last measuring look, watched her smiling gaze shift from a tall dark girl standing behind her to his general direction. Watched the smile waver.

Then he vanished.

* * *

Jo wasn't in Portland, but her knife was, and his mother's Grimoire too and he found both easily. There were few that he trusted in his coven, and even less that would be glad he was back; but he managed through his old tricks to find one contact he could rely on for information. He toyed with the idea of tracking down Joshua Parker and gutting him, a little maiming of course, not murder – Kai was an expert at delivering nonfatal stab wounds. But it was too risky. Kai needed to understand the details and the boundaries of this spell that had sent him back in time - or maybe even another dimension. Most importantly, he needed to know if there was a way he could jumpstart the merge, become coven leader, so that he could seize the chance. At the very least, he could find a way to terrorize his backstabbing sister a bit.

Bonnie Bennett didn't factor into his plans. And he was annoyed with the way his mind kept going back to her, safe and sound, possibly defenseless, in Mystic Falls.

But Jo wasn't in Whitmore either. Some Doctors Without Borders thing in the DRC. Kai dismissed the idea of going that far. He didn't want to stretch the spell – he had already felt the edges of it straining when he went to Portland. So he was stuck in Mystic Falls. With nothing but studying to do.

He got a room at the Salvatore's Boarding House. It seemed appropriate. It would be a few months before those brothers showed up and he stared with fascination at Uncle-Nephew Zach Salvatore when he checked in. The man may not remember that his fiancé and child were brutally murdered, but he acted like a man who was sleepwalking through life **.**

He certainly sleepwalked through his cooking, and after Kai forced himself through first meal, he realized he would have to worm his way into the kitchen soon.

The room that Kai chose – insisted on, in fact – was the one that Bonnie had lived in in 1994. He lay down on the bed that she would once – had already? – slept in, and thought about her.

He had watched and listened to her and Damon for months, as they talked their way through their stay in his prison. He knew that at this time in her life, she knew nothing of her magic, or any magic at all. She thought of herself of an average high school sophomore, getting ready for an average summer, living in an average Virginia town. She was unaware of the tragedies that were around the corner that would awaken her magic and change her life forever – the Gilberts' dying on that bridge, the arrival of the Salvatores to Mystic Falls, the death of Sheila Bennett.

Kai remembered how she had looked a few days ago in her cheerleading uniform – innocent and yet fearless, like if nothing bad could ever happen to her.

Bonnie Bennett needed an education in all things evil and he was best suited to give it to her.


	3. Prey

**Prey**

Who assigned a report after the exams? Mr. Tanner, History Teacher and Resident Sadist, that's who.

Bonnie rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, the glare of the table light hurting her eyes. Her head was pounding so much that she felt like if she was about to cry.

"Crap!" She finally yelled.

Elena, sitting across her, started in alarm. A number of angry eyes glared at her.

She sank low at the table.

Elena nudged her foot. "Time out, Bon."

"I can't… I still have 3 pages left…"

Elena poked so hard, that Bonnie had to swallow a yell. "I mean it. Take a walk. Check out the fantasy section you like so much."

"But-"

"I'm done with my paper, you know?" Elena threatened. "I'm only here to keep you company." Then she winked. "Take a break and let's see if you still have 3 pages left when you get back."

Bonnie reached over and hugged her head – earning more frowning glares at the distraction – and took off. As Elena predicted, she went straight for the fantasy section, picked out one of her favorite books and sank to the floor in front of the shelf.

She must have been there for some time, so lost in the story that she had no idea of the time, when she felt something prickly on her neck, like if someone was watching her. She looked around her, but the aisle was empty.

She turned back to her book. The feeling didn't stop, but instead seemed to intensify. She couldn't lose herself in the story again, and she got to her feet reluctantly.

"Who's there?" She whispered. Suddenly, she was aware of the silence around her. She had gone far into the shelves she was, so away from the open spaces where people studied that she might as well have been alone in another room – the library itself was that big.

Not alone, no. There was something, someone.

"Hey, whoever it is, you'd better come out or-"

Soft laughter came from beside her, like if the laugher was standing in the aisle with her. Her heart jumped and she whirled around – but there was no one there.

Then what happened next… She'd talk herself out of it later on. But at the moment, she could swear something warm and soft touch the bare skin of her shoulder, exposed through her asymmetrical blouse.

Her skin felt like if it had been branded.

She turned around, choking back a scream. There was nothing there. Bonnie didn't wait. She was already rushing down the aisle.

As she stepped out of it, she turned to have one last look at … whatever … had been in there with her… and walked right into someone.

She and another female voice let out identical yelps and fell down in a tangle of limbs, and books.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry!" Bonnie said, trying to sit up.

The girl she had knocked down – pale, Asian-looking, and about Bonnie's own size, was already halfway up her feet. She stretched out a hand to Bonnie and smiled ruefully.

"That's OK. I wasn't watching where I was going either." She bent to pick up the book that had fallen, clearly she had been reading that when she walked into Bonnie.

She was about Bonnie's height, and small and harmless looking. Definitely not whatever had been in that aisle with her.

She peered at Bonnie, then around her. "Are you OK? Where you running away from something?"

Bonnie forced a laugh. "Sorry, just nerves." She sighed. "I've wasted enough time. I have to go back to Tanner's assignment."

The girl looked interested. "Tanner? Is that your high school teacher?"

Bonnie gave her a curious look. They were walking out of the shelves area together. "Yeah. Are you here for the same?"

The girl smiled. "He's not my teacher."

That surprised Bonnie. She would have thought the girl was her own age, but she guessed she was wrong. People were always underestimating Bonnie's age so she tried for an older class, not a younger one.

Bonnie frowned. Now that she thought about it, she didn't think she'd ever seen the girl before.

"OK," she said awkwardly, not wanting to pry but not really knowing where the conversation was going.

The girl laughed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be mysterious. I'm homeschooled. My name's Anna."

She didn't offer Bonnie a hand, just smiled, and nudged her a little with her elbow in a way that struck Bonnie as overly familiar but strangely cute at the same time.

She smiled back. "Bonnie."

"Nice meeting you, Bonnie," Anna said. They had reached the start of the main aisle, and Bonnie could see the back of Elena's head as she was bent over their table. She took a step forward and suddenly realized that Anna had stayed at the end of the aisle.

"Er… I'm going back to my table."

"I'm going back to the shelves. Haven't quite found what I'm looking for," Anna said the last with a strange smile.

"Oh?" Bonnie asked, discomfited by the smile. "Why did you walk all the way then?"

The smile only widened. "I wanted to make sure you were safe, of course. Take care, Bonnie," She stepped backwards, then turned into one of the side aisles and disappeared.

Bonnie stared at the empty aisle. Now was that weird, or what? It was hard to decide what was odder. The strange moment she had felt someone watching her before. Or the even stranger girl.

Then Bonnie caught herself and went quickly to Elena.

Her best friend had pulled through. All that was left was for Bonnie to type out what Elena had scribbled down in her painstaking handwriting. Bonnie was so delighted – breaking out in a squeal that did get them thrown out of the library – that she completely forgot about the strange encounter.

At least for a while.

* * *

It didn't take him long to realize that there were lots of good reasons to stalk Bonnie Bennett.

Or so Kai told himself, while he leaned against some douche's car in the lot, legs crossed at the ankles as he gurgled his bottle and waited. He needed an in with the witch that had helped his father imprison him for almost twenty years. What easier target than her unwary grand-daughter? And he needed a magic source. The Traveller's magic was incredible and seemingly limitless… but there was no such thing as an infinite source of magic for him. He would run out one day, and he'd needed a fall back. Once again, what better source than a young witch who didn't even realize she was one?

Besides, an innocent unaware yet powerful witch like herself was a magnet for disaster. Already Kai could sense the scavengers circling around the beacon that was her untapped aura. It was enough to make him both bless and curse Sheila Bennett.

He'd be damned if he let anyone beat him to her.

He pressed his lips together, remembering the library last night. She had been close enough to kiss. So of course, he had. The taste and texture of her skin, as quick and light as his lips on her shoulder had been, seemed branded on his mouth.

Magic whirled within him, even as he clenched with want and he looked up. There she was, walking out of the school field between the two girls that would someday become vampires. They were dressed in identical red cheerleading uniforms – and if he had known she had cheerleading practice, he'd have been watching from the bleachers not waiting out here – but it was Bonnie's that caught his gaze and held it. His mouth went dry, watching her, taking in the glint of red in her black curls as they bounced under the sun, the miles of golden skin on display in an outfit that would ordinarily have been indecent.

Two meatheads half-out of their football gear loped over the talk with the girls. Kai recognized Liv's pet wolf as one, and a blond dude he had never met before. The blond held hands with Elena and the two drifted away from the other girls. Tyler Dickwood squeezed between Caroline and Bonnie, an arm around each one. But Kai noticed the way the guy kept trying to sniff Bonnie's hair.

How unfortunate for the mongrel that a wave of sickness hit him suddenly. He made a face, and only just managed to run off from his friends with his dignity intact. Kai wasn't sure he'd even make it to the bathroom.

Bonnie watched him go with concern all over her pretty face and Kai regretted not making the guy spew out his internals.

Blond noticed his friend's sudden exit and, after a dutiful kiss with his apparent girlfriend, took off after the other guy. To do what exactly, Kai shuddered to think.

The three girls drifted back together and walked to their cars - Damon's girlfriend-in-the-future hopped into hers and sped off, while Bonnie and the blonde vampire-to-be stayed chatting for a little while longer, leaning against their vehicle. Then the blonde got into the driver's seat while Bonnie strolled over to the passenger side. He tensed as she opened the door, trying to get close enough to see the rise of her hem, the flash of skin as she sat down. Perhaps if he was fast enough, he'd get another taste of her skin – the spot just beneath the hair at the edge of her nape seemed to beckon to him.

They were barely two meters apart when she turned and looked at him.

Kai was cloaked, invisible to everyone and anything but the strongest magic – and even then the witch who cast it would have to know to look. And this Bonnie had never cast a spell wittingly in her life. So whatever she was looking at must have been empty air.

And yet… He knew without a doubt that those green eyes were peering at something. That the way the cheerful, animated expression slipped off from her face and was replaced with something like fear…

She saw him.

The car honked twice, making her tear her gaze away from him.

"Bonnie, are you coming?" Blondie yelled from inside.

Hastily, she slid into the car - and Kai was too distracted by what just happened to remember to sneak a peek before she slammed the door shut. The car peeled out of the school parking lot, and she turned back, her brow furrowed as she stared in his general direction.

He watched her go, and smiled to himself.

 _You're right, Bon. I'm coming for you._

There were lots of good reasons to stalk Bonnie Bennett. But he only needed one to catch her.

"Be afraid, Bon" he whispered to the wind, chucking his bottle into the trash as he strolled into the invisible portal.

"Be very afraid."


	4. The hunt

**The hunt**

One of these days, she'd pass her Driver's Ed and guilt her father into getting a car for her. Until then, she had to take short cuts through the wood to meet up with her friends at the Grill. Elena and Matt had offered her a ride but Bonnie hadn't wanted to be a third wheel, and had sort of planned on going with Caroline. Who had ditched her at the last minute to go out with Ben, of all people!

So Bonnie trudged down the familiar trail, thinking unfriendly thoughts towards her best friend and trying not to get her boots too dirty, or herself too sweaty. It was a warm evening, owls hooting in the trees, and there was still enough light out for her to make her way without needing to put on her phone for light.

In the far distance, she heard a twig snap.

She froze. "Who… who's there?"

Dead silence. Literally, she realized. There was no sound. The owls were silent. The rumble of cars passing along the distant road had also vanished.

Unbidden, the memory of the strange encounter in the library that she had tried to push to the back of her mind came to the forefront in sharp alarming detail.

She took a deep breath, swallowing the sudden surge of panic and started walking again, faster.

She heard a rustle in the distance, like if someone else had started walking too.

 _You're imagining things, Bonnie_ , she said to herself, walking faster, and trying not to hear the noises behind her, snapping twigs, rustling bushes, pebbles shifting under someone's heavy boots. Like if someone was following her, catching up to her… Her arm brushed against something and she screamed, spinning. But it was only a low hanging branch.

 _Calm down_ , she told herself, pausing to take a deep breath.

Strong hands clasped her waist as something warm and hard pressed against her back.

Bonnie screamed, yanking herself out of the grip – and then running for her dear life. She didn't turn to look behind her, just kept going as fast as her high-heeled boots could take her.

Several times, she almost twisted her ankle; but the one time she paused to lean against a branch and catch her breath – she heard something. Low, inhuman, like a growl only much worse. Then there was the sound of the wind whistling through the trees – only it was a windless night.

She took off again, ignoring the precariousness of her heels and her own fast beating heart.

The trail opened into the road just a few yards away. She only needed a few more seconds…

It grabbed her, yanking her out of the trail and against a tree trunk, as something - someone - hard and tall pushed against her. She screamed – but the sound of it was cut off when something soft and warm pressed hard against her mouth.

A trail of heat burnt its way through her, from her lips to the tips of her toes.

"'Hello Little Red,' said the Wolf." The words were low, and whispered so close to her mouth that soft lips brushed against hers as they were uttered, each gasp of breath like a stoke to the fire inside her.

Bonnie's knee went up – and the arms and body holding her in place yanked back with a muffled oath.

"Get away from me!" Her hand, holding her small clutch bag, swung widely until it hit something and there was another muffled shout and the thud of something hitting the ground.

She spun on her heels and ran out of the woods, trembling violently and kept running until she had burst into the Grill.

"Are you OK?" Elena asked for maybe the dozenth time that night.

Bonnie was tucked between her two best girlfriends in the booth, Matt's jacket over her shoulders. In front of her was the drink that Ben had fetched before he, Matt, Tyler and a few other guys had gone into the woods to find Bonnie's attacker.

"I'm fine," Bonnie said for maybe the dozenth time that night.

"I feel so guilty," Caroline said, almost in tears as she well should be. "I'm so sorry, Bonnie. If I had known that you were going to walk through the woods and get attacked by some perv…"

"Are you sure you're OK, Bonnie?" Elena repeated.

"I swear I'm fine. He barely even touched me before I kneed him and took off." She hadn't told her friends about the kiss. Even now, as she sat safe between her friends in the familiar smoky atmosphere of the Grill, the memory alone made her face burn.

"You're warm," Caroline said immediately. "Are you having a fever?"

"I'm fine," Bonnie said tiredly. She looked around the bar eagerly for a distraction – and her eyes landed on the small, dark-haired girl that had just walked in.

Anna.

Bonnie stared at her. The last and only time she saw the girl, she hadn't been dressed very fashionably but at least her clothes were clean and neat. Now her clothes were torn, dirty, and there was a dint of mud on her face. As if she felt Bonnie's eyes on her, Anna looked up.

Bonnie shuddered. The look on the girl's face was positively hostile.

"Guys," she whispered. "Do you know that girl?"

Elena and Caroline looked over. "What girl?"

Bonnie stared. "That girl…"

She was pointing at someone that was no longer there. She stood up, pushing her friends aside to scan the bar.

Anna was gone.

"What girl, Bonnie?" Caroline repeated.

"I…"

Just then the doors of the Grill burst open and the boys trooped in. Led by Matt, they made a beeline to the three girls.

"The Sherriff's already picked him up. Some filthy bum who must have been camping there."

Bonnie shuddered, remembering the kiss. She almost wept with gratitude when Elena put a comforting arm around her.

"When we found him, he was making a run for it. Denied attacking Bonnie. Told us some tall story about seeing a magician and a monster fighting over a girl. That the magician won and grabbed her."

Bonnie froze.

"I hope they lock him up and throw away the key," Caroline said bitterly.

"You're safe now, Bonnie," Elena said fiercely.

Bonnie gulped, and let her friends embrace her. She was safe. They had caught the poor loony who had tried to … hurt her. Her mind shied away from properly completing that sentence.

Tried to shy away from the memory of that four-second kiss.

She was safe. They had caught him.

Right?

* * *

 _It would have to be soon._

The vampire had been old, maybe centuries older than the Salvatore brothers – and it had harnessed its age for evasion, not attack, escaping the moment it realized its prey was being protected by a witch.

 _Not protected_ , Kai corrected himself with a scoff. _Hunted_. He had called dibs on Bonnie. All other predators should back off.

He rubbed his mouth, remembering the velvety silk of her lips against his, the sweet smell of her breath gasping into his mouth. He imagined what it would feel like to kiss her properly, taste that sweet mouth properly, his hands once more on that tiny waist as he sandwiched her to-die-for body between his own and something soft but unyielding. Like his bed. Or even better, her own.

He groaned out loud. He shouldn't have done that to himself. It was more torture for him now, keeping his distance from her.

 _Soon_ , he repeated to himself. Desperately.

 _Soon._

* * *

 _ **Next** : What the cat dragged in_


	5. What the cat dragged in

**What the cat dragged in**

"It's raining. Are you sure about this?"

"It's just a little drizzle. Good practice."

"I don't know about this, Care…"

"Well, I do. Come on, Bon. Remember what happened in the woods? You need to know this. So get your butt in the driver's seat and pump that gas."

Bonnie didn't need Caroline to remind her and she shuddered as she reluctantly slipped behind the wheel, grabbed the steering wheel and took a deep breath.

 _Come on, Bonnie. You can do this_.

She turned the ignition and tapped the pedal. And once again, she couldn't help but gasp when the car actually moved. Caroline snickered.

Caroline was actually an excellent driving instructor. She was patient and careful, but she was also exacting and challenging. She struck the right balance between cheerleader and instructor… which was exactly what Bonnie needed.

Before she realized it, they were pulling onto the highway that drove out of Mystic Falls. For the first time, Bonnie pushed back 30MPH. Caroline whooped.

"Go Bonnie!"

Bonnie laughed, grinning as the wind whipped through her hair.

She felt amazing, and was glad that she let Caroline talk her into this. The past few days had been weird – she felt off-kilter, tense, nervous, like if she was in the middle of exams or had a paper due or a difficult cheer to master.

And – she felt like if she was being _watched_.

It was ridiculous, clearly, and that was why she couldn't bring herself to tell anyone about it. She knew what they'd all say; and the truth was that, she thought the same, too. Even though the bum, Joe Smith, had been caught and was currently roasting in jail because he couldn't make bail, the incident had spooked Bonnie and she wasn't fully recovered. Also, being home alone didn't help.

Caroline's mom had told Bonnie to inform her dad or Grams about what happened but Bonnie hadn't. What was the point? Her Dad had taken off a few days ago for a business trip that was supposed to last a week, but would almost certainly, as these things usually went, going to last far longer. Grams was in the middle of exam season so she couldn't pop over often during the week.

Telling either of them would just worry them unnecessarily and probably guilt them into staying in town with her. Besides, Bonnie didn't have to be home alone. There was always sleepover at the Gilberts's or the Forbes's – frankly Elena's house felt more like home to her and a sleepover at Caroline's was always a riot. In the admittedly weird way Bonnie had of figuring out these things, she was waiting for at least a week and a weekend with Sheila before she stayed over at either friend's house.

It was pretty much standard fare for Bonnie – figuring out things like this – and usually, her life was full enough not to dwell on the unfairness of it all. But after the incident in the wood – _and that weird incident in the library that she wasn't even sure happened in the first place_ – it clearly bothered her. Enough that her overactive imagination had clearly started playing tricks on her by conjuring up a fantasy stalker.

But now, sitting behind the wheel with her best friend beside her, Bonnie felt her worries fall behind her, like smoke from the exhaust as she sped away in Caroline's zippy little car. Her fears were nothing more than a form of PTSD; with a bit of the usual kid-from-a-divorced-home-dad-is-too-busy-to-parent-me angst; and probably a smidgen of summer-is-around-the-corner blues. She had just had bad luck that night in the woods with the bum. Why on Earth would anyone stalk little old her?

"Has your dress for the dance shipped?" Caroline reminded her.

"Chill, Care," Bonnie said, eyes straight ahead on the road. Was she veering too close to the yellow double lines? She readjusted, accordingly. "We all placed the orders together. They'll show up at the same time. Three weeks advance!"

"You can laugh, Bonnie, but that's because you don't appreciate the effort it takes to organize these things. I leave nothing to chance. What if the wrong dress comes? What if it doesn't fit? What if Elena changes her mind and decides to go as a couple with Matt and you and I are stuck with each other? What kind of Queen only has one Lady? What if the Timberwolves actually win and we need to wear school colours?"

Bonnie resisted the urge to roll her eyes and drive at the same time. Sometimes – most times, to be honest – it was exhausting being best friends with Caroline Forbes and putting up with her constant insistence on micro-managing every little aspect of their existence. But Bonnie was looking forward to the last dance of the school year and she nodded along to Caroline's enthusiasm.

It had started drizzling a few minutes ago, but just a little, like Caroline said. Small enough to feel wonderful on this hot summer day.

Bonnie pulled up at a red light and Caroline grinned at her. "Smooth."

"I have a great teacher," Bonnie said, smiling.

"The greatest," Caroline said, preening.

The light turned green, Bonnie stepped on the gas again and the journey changed.

As abruptly as if they stepped through a door, the light drizzle changed into a heavy downpour, the bright afternoon darkened and lightning struck through the sky.

"What the…?" Bonnie cried. Caroline gasped.

Thunder rumbled and the car swerved.

"Bonnie, slow down!"

"I can't see anything!" Bonnie cried, trying not to panic. She stepped on the brake and the car seemed to float over the road.

"Don't step on the brakes!"

"You just told me to slow down!"

"You're aquaplaning, Bonnie. Just step off the gas."

"I don't think I can keep driving like this, Care. I'm really scared."

"OK, Bonnie, just calm down. I'll take the wheel but you have to stop the car first. Step on the gas, keep going straight and I'll tell you when it's safe to tap the brakes."

The first time Caroline called Brake, Bonnie almost ran them off the road.

" _Tap_ the brakes, Bonnie! Tap, not stamp."

Somehow, by some miracle, she managed to pull the car to a stop. The rain was pounding on the roof of the car and when Caroline cracked her door open, the wind and spray drenched the car. Caroline gave up on taking the wheel.

"OK, this is your first lesson on what to do when you're in a situation like this," Caroline said, calmly. "Put on your hazard lights."

"Check."

"Speed dial a cute guy to come pick you."

"Ha ha."

Caroline snickered as she riffled through her bag. "Chips?" she offered Bonnie a snack and when Bonnie shuddered a no, she shrugged and put it on the dashboard.

"So Bon, I hear Lockwood's machine's is all Bonnie-compliant these days."

Bonnie eyed her warily, half-afraid to ask.

Caroline found her phone and raised it up in triumph, smiling mischievously. "You know… for the V-card you're going to have to swipe someday."

"Eww, Care!"

Caroline burst out laughing.

"Besides, I'm not into Tyler like that. Nor he me."

"Good. Because you can do so much better than Tyler Lockwood. But you're blind if you can't see that he's panting after you like a hungry dog after a juicy, chewy bone." She winked at Bonnie as she dialed.

"Oh my gosh, Care! Enough with the metaphors. And why are you so obsessed with my sex life?"

"Er… because you don't have one? Hello, shush Bonnie," Caroline said, turning her head closer to the phone. "Hi Ben. Can you come and rescue me? … Rescue me! I'm stuck in the-… It's raining and I'm stuck… I can hear you perfectly fine! What, are you deaf?… Go screw yourself." She snapped her phone shut.

Bonnie knew her smile was more malicious than mischievous. "Cute guy didn't work out?"

"That loser's number is getting out of my phone on Saturday. What?" She said at Bonnie's raised eyebrow. "I need a date Friday night."

Bonnie laughed. "You're incredible, Care. But we're still stuck on the highway and I don't think it's safe for either of us to drive."

"It's just a little rain. When it gets better, I'll come out and you'll scooch over. Meanwhile…" She tapped her phone until music started blaring out. The girls high-fived each other and started singing along and laughing.

They were making so much noise that they didn't notice the dark figure approaching until it was literally at Bonnie's window, tapping the glass.

Then they screamed.

He was drenched. Water dripped from his hair, from his jaw, his shoulders, his jacket. His skin was practically translucent, light blue veins gleaming through the pale skin, his bones sharp under his skin.

He was easily one of the best-looking – if not _the_ best looking man Bonnie had seen this side of a screen.

And he completely, absolutely frightened her

She had no idea why or how. Someone could hold a gun to her head and she'd still never be able to explain what exactly about him scared her senseless. All she knew was that the moment she saw his face, the moment his eyes bored into hers, her instinct was to put the car in reverse, rain storm or no, and put the distance of the world between herself and him at once.

"Can you help me?" he shouted over the storm. "I'm on my way to Mystic Falls."

"Sure, we're from there! Hop in!" Caroline said, before Bonnie could shush her.

He grinned, a wide open smile. "Thanks!" he said, looking directly at Bonnie. He hadn't once lifted his gaze from her.

Bonnie tore her gaze away, and ducked her head as she pretended to fumble with the central lock. Under the cloud of her overgrown bangs, she hissed at Caroline. "We have no idea who this guy is. He could be a serial killer. A rapist."

"With a face like that?" Caroline whispered back. "Get real, Bon."

She reached over and swung the back door open. Bonnie bit her lip down hard against her angry words as he slid into the car.

He was taller than he looked, hunched over and blinking as he settled in. Now that he was stretching in the backseat, she could see that his legs were long, and his body lean under the black jacket. The jacket looked like something you'd put on on a chilly Spring day, and hung open over a faded T-shirt that clung to his chest like a second skin. If she looked hard enough, she could make out every line of muscle under that T-shirt.

Bonnie swallowed.

She lifted her eyes to his face, to dark eyes that were staring at her as intently as she was staring at him. Her colour rose and her gaze skidded until it landed on his shoulder.

"H-hi," she stammered.

"Hi." His soft voice was unnerving.

But not to Care, apparently.

"I'm Caroline Forbes," she declared brightly, and stretched out her hand. He took it. "This is my friend, Bonnie Bennett and we don't normally pick up strange guys on the road so count yourself very lucky we took pity on you, today, Mr…?"

His eyes briefly flickered from Bonnie to Caroline and back. "Kai Parker. Thanks a lot, both of you. I don't suppose you'll be needing that?" He eyed the bag of chips on the dash.

Caroline raised an eyebrow but she handed it to him all the same.

"Thanks," he said with a flash of a smile and he tore through it.

The smile worked wonders on Caroline. It sent a shiver down Bonnie's spine.

"So… you're on your way to Mystic Falls? What business do you have there?" Caroline continued, brightly.

His smiled broadened. "Are you cops?" He asked between gobbles.

Caroline laughed gaily. Bonnie tried a smile, but it was hard to hold one under that gaze.

"No, we're not cops. We're still in college," Caroline said brightly, with a hard shove to Bonnie's knee when Bonnie whirled at her.

At least Caroline's surprising statement had given Bonnie an excuse to turn away from the guy in the backseat. She turned back completely into her seat, and started making a show of checking the dials on the dashboard.

The space between her shoulder blades was prickling. He was still staring at her.

"How exciting. What college?" he asked, and there was something in his voice that made Bonnie wonder if he was laughing at Caroline's lie. As if he knew that Caroline was lying.

Well, that wasn't so strange. Caroline might have been able to pull off a college freshman but there were people that still asked Bonnie if she was in middle school….

"Whitmore," Caroline said at once and launched into an elaborate lie about majors and classes and raves.

Every once in a while, she'd chip in a shrill, "isn't that right, Bonnie?" and Bonnie would have to mutter a yes. She kept her eyes glued to the windscreen as much as she could and was never more grateful for Caroline's ability to carry out an entire conversation on her own.

And if not for the steady, prickling sensation at the back of her head, Bonnie would have thought from his responses as her worked through that bag of chips that Kai Parker was as enthralled with Caroline's voice as Caroline herself.

Minutes that felt like hours sped by. Caroline kept talking. Kai Parker kept holding a conversation with her while his eyes bore holes in Bonnie's back. Bonnie fell more and more silent, swallowing against a lump that was forming in her throat. Her chest was tightening. She felt like if she was being smothered. The car was too hot, the sound of the storm and Caroline's voice too loud, his eyes too hard… she needed to get out of there… she needed…

"Oh goody, the storm's over!" Caroline squealed.

Bonnie started violently. Had she passed out? Spaced out? Caroline was right. The dark clouds had lightened and only a light drizzle remained. She gasped with relief and instinctively turned to Caroline, questioningly.

"Maybe you should drive?" she said, hesitantly.

"Oh come on, Bonnie," Caroline said with an exaggerated sigh. She turned to their passenger. "I'm teaching her to drive," she said dramatically. "She has like, zero self-confidence, this one."

Bonnie coloured. She hated this side of her friend. The side that was quick to put her friends down to impress a guy. "By all means, be my guest," she murmured as she opened her door.

It was a heavier drizzle than she had thought and she walked out briskly, not looking up until she slid into the passenger's seat. It was strange, and probably her mind exaggerating things, but she felt Kai Parker's eyes follow her as she walked around the car. For a fraction of a second as she held the door handle, she thought of making a run for it, just taking off and away from the car, and putting as much distance between Kai Parker and herself as possible.

It was just a flashing thought and she shook it off her head. _Get a grip, Bennett. What's wrong with you? He's just a hitchhiker with myopia._

She opened the car and slid inside. Caroline was already in the driver's seat, and the engine hummed in anticipation. Bonnie bent to latch her seatbelt and that was when she locked eyes with Parker again. It was just a moment but it seemed to stretch out for an eternity.

Then she gasped a little and looked away.

"You OK, Bonnie?" asked Caroline, casually as she pulled the car smoothly onto the road.

"Fine. Just a little cold," Bonnie managed, still gasping, still keeping her eyes firmly trained in front of her.

Hungry. The expression in his face when he looked at her was hungry.

She felt his eyes on her back all the way back to Mystic Falls.

* * *

 **a/n:** Thanks for the reviews! I appreciate the support because posting this fic always makes me nervous. (Oh and check out my other fic, Long Shadows, which I'm currently re-writing. There are lots of new material for old readers and I'd like to think new readers, would enjoy it, too.)


	6. Beware the big bad witch

**Beware the big, bad witch**

"Gosh, Bonnie, he was simply checking you out. Sooner or later, you're going to have to face up to the fact that you, Bonnie Bennett are certifiably hot."

Bonnie twisted her hair around her finger, and gnawed on her nail. "Care, you don't get it. It wasn't just that he was staring, he looked…" She paused, trying to find a word that was less melodramatic and failing.

"He looked…" Care pressed.

Bonnie blushed even as she said it. "Hungry. He looked like if he wanted to eat me."

Care stared at her. For a moment, Bonnie thought that her friend had finally got it.

Then Care burst out laughing. "Oh my goodness, Bonnie. How old are you, really?"

"Shut up, Care."

"No seriously. Are you sure you don't have a fake birth certificate or something? You're five months younger than me not five years."

"I'm glad my fears are so funny to you," Bonnie muttered.

"Oh, Bonnie," Care said, and heaved a big sigh. "That's lust, girl. He was imagining you without clothes, spread across his bed. He wanted to eat you, just not the way you were thinking." She smirked when Bonnie turned bright red. "He was not imagining your guts spread across his lab table, or whatever it is you're thinking."

"I don't care. It gave me the creeps."

"I can tell. Of course, it's just like the universe to do this. A hottie like that would fall for someone who thinks a hottie like that is creepy. While I remain here, pining."

Bonnie smiled. "What happened to Ben?"

"Oh that loser?" And Caroline launched into a tirade about Ben, his failings, and his fugly car. It was almost a relief to lose herself into Care's latest episode of boy drama.

When Caroline left – _my turn to cook dinner, oh joy!_ – Bonnie felt a bit better. She couldn't really blame her friend for not taking her seriously when she held back on the most important reason for her fears –

That she wondered if Kai Parker had been the same guy that had grabbed her in the woods and kissed her.

Which was ridiculous, Bonnie told herself firmly. Because that guy had been Joe Smith, a sad loon who was still safely in jail now. She remembered his crazy alibi, that he'd been a witness to a skirmish between a 'monster' and a 'magician' over a girl – the girl, presumably, being her, Bonnie. She scoffed to herself, even as she couldn't help but feel an iota of pity for Smith and whatever must have led him to fall so low in life.

Caroline was right. Kai Parker was just some creepy dude that had a thing for high school girls – or, in all fairness, college co-eds. He claimed he was passing through Mystic Falls, and he'd be in the Salvatore boarding house for a few weeks. That was on the other side of town. Mystic Falls was small, but it wasn't that small. There was literally nothing that would make Bonnie run into him during that time. By the time, she ran through her chores, she barely remembered the whole weird encounter.

Meanwhile, she had more important things to worry about. Like Chem.

Tanner had apparently recruited the rest of the faculty to his Sadism Club. What other explanation could there be for teachers handing out graded homework _after_ exams?

With a big sigh, she cracked open the Chem text.

An hour later into the world of valence bonds and IUPAC naming conventions, Bonnie vaguely registered the door bell ringing. It took her a few minutes to remember that yes, no one else was at home. Grams had promised to drop by the next morning, though, just to check in on Bonnie.

Sighing again – she had just finally started grasping the whole valency concept – Bonnie pushed off from her desk and went to the door.

"I'm coming!"

It was Mystic Falls. Nothing bad ever happened there and everybody knew everybody else. So she didn't bother checking the peephole.

Kai Parker was at her door.


	7. The uninvited guest

**The uninvited guest**

Kai couldn't wait a moment longer. Not after that hour in the car, so close to Bonnie that he could have reached over and touched her – would have, if not for her annoying friend who couldn't stop talking. He guessed he should have be grateful to the other girl. Her presence had forced him to rein himself in, to dig into stores of self-control that he hadn't known he had. All that glowing skin, curves that made his hands itch to trace, and that mouth that was practically begging him to kiss it. And more than all of that, just _her_ , Bonnie. Her essence calling to him, tugging at him in a way that he had never ever felt before.

He stayed in the boarding house for an hour, trying to talk himself out of it. It was too soon. He needed to get a landing with Jo and the coven. It was too impulsive. If he got into Sheila Bennett's crosshairs, it was game over for him.

And he almost succeeded. Almost. But he closed his eyes for a second, and a flash of memory had hit him. The moment she had walked round to the passenger seat and glanced at him. The way her green eyes had held his own, as lost in his gaze as he was in her own.

His eyes flew open.

No, he couldn't do it. Odds be damned but he had waited long enough already, since – he realized to himself – the moment he saw her in that Prison World, taunting him with her beauty and her magic.

He wasn't going to wait another moment for Bonnie.

* * *

Kai Parker was at her door.

All black-clad six feet one inch of him.

It wasn't rational, it wasn't even thought. But Bonnie was swinging the door closed so fast that her wrist sprained a little when it rebounded against the foot he had stuck in. She yanked the door harder, determined to break his foot if she had to but his hand reached out and caught the edge of it.

"Bonnie."

Her heart was pounding so hard, she thought she was going to pass out.

 _Run. Run. Run._

"Please don't run," he said in that soft voice, as if he could read her mind.

Or the stark fear that she knew was on her face.

His face wasn't hard to read in the least. The hunger was still there.

"How did you know where I live?" she managed to gasp out. "What are you doing here?"

She regretted speaking almost at once, because Kai Parker's eyes went straight to her mouth.

"I'm starving," he said slowly, echoing her thoughts so exactly that she stifled a gasp. He looked up at her face then and her breath went shallow.

Bonnie's grip on the door tightened. "You need to g-"

"I had to see you." He stepped forward and her heart jumped. Was he actually going to force his way through?

He didn't, stopping mere inches from her. "Let me in, Bonnie."

"Please go away. My Dad is in the bathroom and if he sees you…"

He smirked. "There's no car in the driveway."

"It's in the garage!" she cried.

His brow furrowed, as if he just realized something. "You're all alone at home, aren't you?"

She swallowed hard, and tried again to close the door. "Go away or I'll call the police."

His eyes darkened. There was a horrifying moment when Bonnie thought he'd actually try to force his way through. He was tall and packed with lean muscle – she remembered what she had seen through the wet T-shirt. He could pick her up and break her into two.

Then he lifted up his hands and stepped back.

He opened his mouth and whatever he was going to say, she didn't wait to find out. She slammed the door shut and locked it.

Her heart was still pounding as she leaned against the door. She was almost afraid to move, as if her body was holding the door shut. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to calm herself down as she thought of what to do. Should she call the police, all the same? Let them know that an obviously mentally disturbed person was in town, stalking her? Clearly, She had to call Grams.

But Grams was in the middle of exams. She couldn't drop everything and start driving down to Mystic Falls just because Bonnie had a little scare. And there was no point calling her Dad. He'd just worry long-distance. There was nothing he could do short of cancelling his conference and flying back.

She would call Caroline or Elena then. She'd tell one of them she'd come and sleepover.

That's what she'd do, Bonnie decided, nodding her head. Her heart was steadier. She'd go to the Gilberts' or Forbes'. She'd just wait until he was gone…

She peeked through the window to see if he was still outside. He wasn't.

Her cell was up in her room, muted. She had switched off the ringer to study. The Chem textbook probably still lay half open on her desk. Valencies seemed a lifetime ago. Scoffing softly, she trudged upstairs.

She reached her closed room, her hand already stretching for the door knob when something made her pause.

The door was _closed_.

But she had left it open, hadn't she? When she dragged herself from her books to answer the door?

Maybe the wind had blown it shut, she tried to reassure herself. Her eyes turned to the tiny open window filtering light into the otherwise gloomy corridor. The curtains were still. It was an airless day.

She dropped her hand and took a step back, her heart suddenly pounding.

What could she do? Her phone was still in her room, under her pillow. She couldn't call for help.

 _Run, Bonnie._

From her own home?

Distantly, she heard a muffled noise… Was it coming from inside her room?

She fled.

As she pounded down the steps, were those echoing thuds – the sound of her own shoes hitting the paneled floor…

Or was that someone chasing after her?

 _Run faster, Bonnie_.

She was panting when she reached the door and flung it open.

And then she screamed…

* * *

 **Author's note** : Midterm hiatus coming. Sorry, guys. I'll try to update as soon as it's over. By the way, in case I haven't made it clear... the warnings for dub-con and underage hanky panky are not for fun in this fic so please, **please, if this stuff offends you, don't read**. I'm fed up with deleting anons complaining about this story on here and on tumblr. Thanks to everyone who left a **real** review, and showed support. I really appreciate it.


	8. The chase

**The chase**

Bonnie's scream cut short at the sight of Elena and Matt. Matt's fist was still up, ready to knock on the door.

For a moment, they stared at each other in silent surprise. Then Bonnie slumped against the door, slightly weak with relief.

"Where's the fire?" Matt asked first.

"Bonnie, are you ok?" Elena asked.

"I'm...I'm fine. Hey, guys. What's happening?"

Elena still stared at her worriedly but Matt broke into a grin. "Ben's parents took off for the weekend so we're throwing a house party."

"We're picking up guests," Elena added, breaking into a smile.

"Huh. Does Ben know about this party of his?"

Matt's grin widened. "He will, eventually."

Bonnie laughed softly. "I'm in."

Elena squealed, pumping her fists in the air and making the other two laugh again. Bonnie slipped between her two friends, her arm around each person's waist and started leading them towards the car parked on the curb.

"Don't you need a jacket?" Elena asked, surprised.

"No, I'm good."

As they poured into the car, Elena's face turned worried again. "Bonnie, is everything OK? You looked freaked out when you opened the door."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, peppy cheerleader/ party girl smile in place.

"Only from Chem. Come on guys, are we going to a party, or what?"

The party was a blast. Ben got over his shock quickly enough and everyone had a wonderful time – except his parents when they returned a few days' later.

Bonnie didn't go home that night, but crashed at Elena's, using the stuff of hers that was always in her friend's houses. The next day, she made Elena come up with her to her bedroom, pack up more things, and left her home.

If she felt eyes watching her all the while she was there, she ignored it.

* * *

She pretended that she didn't know they were playing footsie under the table. Elena's mouth kept twisting to suppress her smiles, but once in a while, she'd burst into giggles then bury her face behind her textbook. Matt wasn't even trying, his eyes kept roving over his girlfriend's face.

Sitting across from them on their library table, Bonnie rolled her eyes in the direction of her text and tried not to puke.

When Elena giggled again, for the eleventh time, Bonnie snapped her book shut.

"Get a room, you two. Now!"

They both jumped, looking guilty.

"Sorry, Bon," Matt said with a sheepish grin.

"We'll tone it down," Elena said, and she'd look more contrite if her face wasn't glowing.

Bonnie rolled her eyes again. "Just go."

Matt was already half-way up, when his girlfriend grabbed his arm and frowned up at him. Looking like if he suddenly remembered something, he sat down at once. They both looked at Bonnie, expectantly.

Bonnie stared at them in suspicion. "What?"

"We wanted to wait until you were done. All of us leave together," Elena said. When Bonnie kept staring, Elena shifted uncomfortably. "You've been freaked out since what happened in the woods. We figured you didn't want to walk home alone at night."

Bonnie felt her heart slam in remembrance. Despite the unbidden dreams that had plagued her subconscious since that rainy day – dark, twisted dreams that she woke from hot and aching – she had tried desperately to push everything out of her mind – the creepy wood attack, Kai Parker, even the weird encounter that started it all in this very library – but now Elena's words brought them to the forefront of her conscious thoughts.

She had been alternating between crashing at Elena's and Caroline's since Ben's party; and she always had a friend follow her home when she popped by to grab a few things like clothes, books, and even the phone charger that she always kept forgetting to pick up as well. It was the height of inconvenience always needing to borrow one, and her battery always hovered at low to dead these days.

Thankfully, since Kai Parker's uninvited appearance at her doorstep, she had been relatively creepy-free.

Unless, she counted the constant, persistent feeling of being watched – a feeling that she was finding harder and harder to convince herself was just her imagination.

The same way that she was finding it harder and harder to convince herself that that random bum presently incarcerated, was really the person that had – (kissed her) – attacked her at the woods.

So why the hell did she downplay her friends' concerns now?

Unwillingly, her mind went back to her first sight of Kai Parker, soaked to the skin that rainy afternoon, his dark eyes boring into her very soul, the look on his face unmistakable.

Hungry.

 _"He wanted to eat you, Bonnie, just not the way you were thinking."_

Caroline's words flashed through her brain, making Bonnie's fists clench with fear...

Anticipation.

"Bonnie?"

"I'm good, really," Bonnie said firmly, snapping out of her thoughts and smiling brightly at the two worried faces staring at her. She eyed her text and heaved a dramatic smile. "Well, as good as I can be knowing that we have a pop History quiz tomorrow and I just know Mr. Tanner is going to pick on me."

Elena still looked unconvinced but Matt's face broke into a chuckle, that sent a few dirty looks their way.

He ignored them, and winked at Bonnie. "Mr. Tanner has a thing for you."

Both girls looked at him in horror. "Ewww!" they said at the same time.

He grinned mischievously. "He's always picking on Bonnie. And then making digs about her being 'cute but dumb'."

"That is not a compliment, Matt," Elena said in the disappointed tones of someone whose trained pet had just embarrassed her in public.

"Babe, I'm not the one who said it!" he protested, and he and his girlfriend descended into a rapid, hushed quarrel.

The dirty looks coming their way were increasing in volume and intensity.

"Will you two leave already before I get thrown out with you?" Bonnie snapped, and this time she was asking honestly.

The two got up, still arguing. Elena broke off long enough to lean over and give her friend a one-armed hug. "Don't leave by yourself, OK? Call Matt and I and we'll come pick you up."

"Elena, I can -"

"Promise me, Bonnie."

Bonnie heaved a large dramatic sigh, but inside she was relieved. "Sure thing."

Thankfully, they left. Bonnie buried her face into her text and kept at it, ignoring the looks that were still sent her way, ignoring the way her own mind wanted to turn back to those short, charged memories of the intruder called Kai Parker. Intruder in every sense of the word because even her dreams had been filled with him since the time they went.

 _Buried beneath his tall, broad body, the weight of which was sinking her into the soft bed beneath while his lips pressed words against her own, stealing her breath every time she tried to speak._

 _His fingers tracing electric patterns into her skin, skimming along her sides, brushing over her breasts, her stomach, and going even lower…_

Bonnie shifted in her chair, pressing her knees together, as her face and body burned. She bent her face lower into the text, forcing herself to drive away those stupid dreams from her head.

She forced herself to concentrate until the words of her book finally penetrated through the fog of memories and unidentifiable emotions, and actually started making sense. More than sense. She found thoughts of her weird dreams, and even her awareness of her own environment fading into the distance as she genuinely got engrossed in her reading material. So engrossed that she didn't notice when people started packing up and leaving, or when the lights started dimming, until the old librarian was standing in front of her.

"Bonnie?"

She blinked up with slightly dazed eyes at Mr. Breyer.

"Library is closing." As was his usual manner, he whispered the words with his face fixed in disapproval.

"Oh!" she gasped when she checked her phone and saw the time. Even more worrying, her battery was running low. Damn it. She was going to ask Elena to stop at a store on their way home and get a new charger.

Only now that she had waited until closing time, Bonnie would have to wait outside in the dark for some time before her friends came to pick her. She glanced at the pitch-dark through the windows. All her previous nervousness suddenly rushed back in, slamming hard against her ribs. She smiled shakily up at Mr. Breyer. "I don't suppose I could spend the night."

His constant look of disapproval deepened further.

Bonnie gave him a nervous grin. "Just kidding. Can I maybe just make a phone call…?"

"Out. Now."

"OK, OK, I get it."

She grabbed her things hastily and left under the disapproving eyes of the librarian. For a fraction of a moment, she doubling back and hiding in the bathroom or something, but she shook the silly thought out of her head.

She sat down at the steps in front and called Elena and Matt in turn. Both their phones rang to the end – "What a surprise!" Bonnie muttered sarcastically – and she left a voice message for both of them.

Mr. Breyer passed her on his way out.

"Is someone picking you up, Bonnie?" he offered.

Bonnie suppressed a giggle at the realization that even outside the library, the librarian was still whispering.

"Yes, my friends will be here soon."

He looked at his watch and frowned. "It's getting late."

"They'll be here."

"I'm taking the downtown bus. We can wait together."

She hesitated, considering it. "OK, let me make a quick call." She picked up her phone to dial, then let out a sigh of frustration as her phone died after the first ring.

"I'm fine, Mr. Breyer," she said, in as convincing a tone as possible. "And if I leave, my friends will just worry and we'll keep chasing each other across town. They'll be hear soon."

Elena's and Matt's make-out sessions didn't last very long. Elena had a curfew and Matt had a shift at the bar. They'd see her missed call, know it was past library hours and come and get her.

The librarian looked torn, but there was a horn from the road and they both looked up to see the bus turn the corner and start moving towards its Stop.

"OK, then. Take care of yourself, Bonnie," he said and he left with a dignified jog. She watched him board the bus and leave.

She was completely alone.

Almost as if it had been waiting, that feeling of being watched descended on her.

Bonnie shook her head. "No," she told herself gamely. "I am not going to get spooked." She pulled out her history text and opened the chapter on Salem witch trials, the one that she had been finding so fascinating.

But it was hard to lose herself in it, when she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rising. When the warm June evening something became eerily cold, and she could swear she heard whispers in the dark.

"Bonnie. Bonnie."

"Bonnie!"

She jumped with a scream. The last one had been so close, she could have sworn she felt breath on her neck.

A face flashed in the darkness – small, dark-haired…

Anna?

Then suddenly a large, hulking figure was in front of her. So suddenly, it looked like if he had been plucked out of thin air.

Bonnie scrambled to her feet, gasping.

A gasp that turned into a scream when a wide mouth opened, revealing carnivorous canines that descended on her.

* * *

 **Author's note** : Midterm hiatus is over. Thanks to everyone that sent a nice feedback, and told me not to get discouraged by the nasty comments. I'm still posting because you guys give me the courage to do so because the funny thing is that the stuff they're objecting to is probably going to get worse so I dunno... If they're already so pissed now, I don't know what kind of insults will come my way later.


	9. One way or another, I'm gonna find you

**One way or another, I'm gonna find you**

Bonnie Bennett was not a coward. She had kneed that bum Joe Smith – if it _had_ been Joe Smith – that mauled her in the woods. If this had been another bum, she'd have done the same thing. If it had been a mugger, she'd have swung her backpack at him, screaming all the while.

But the _thing_ that was rushing at her was none of those things… was not even human.

A face filled with veins, sharp teeth distended, cheekbones sharp and not. quite. possible. Bonnie barely managed to register any of these before it grabbed her, and she felt her body being lifted from the ground. The large teeth drew nearer.

 _NO!_

The word was screamed in her head, her voice still gone with shock.

But the creature dropped her, and recoiled back as if she had yelled her No to its face.

She staggered, almost falling but catching herself at the last minute. For a moment, she and the monster stared at each other, frozen.

Then adrenaline kicked in, and Bonnie turned on her heel to run…

… straight into the man-monster who now stood in front of her.

She choked on a scream, her heart racing.

Its face distorted even further and she realized with a shiver of shock that it was smiling.

"Where are you going, little Bonnie?"

Bonnie screamed then – or tried to. Its hand clamped over her mouth, it spun her around and, once again, she felt her feet being lifted off the ground. She kicked desperately, but even though her shoes made contact, her attacker didn't flinch. Above her, she heard deep, raucous laughter.

 _No! Stop! Help me, please!_ She cried helplessly.

Suddenly, abruptly, she was let go.

She hit the pavement with her hands and knees. She scrambled to her feet at once, ready to flee. She tossed a glance over her shoulder … and froze.

Two tall silhouettes grappled in the lot. From afar, they might have been indistinguishable in the darkness – tall, dark-haired, pale-skinned, both donned in black clothes. But from where she stood, she could easily make out the irregularities of her attacker's face.

And she easily recognized the other man as Kai Parker.

A sudden wind had swept through the library lot; the chill brushed her bare legs and dead leaves and trash skidded across the ground as the battle unfolded before her. She could barely make out each man anymore. They were moving fast, faster than she'd have thought was humaningly possible. Then her attacker flung Kai Parker across the lot, and he crashed hard into the pavement. Bonnie's heart jumped into her throat as the monster flew after the man, his teeth bared.

"Stop!" Bonnie screamed.

The monster landed with his booted feet, inches from Kai's head to turn to glare at her.

Too late, Bonnie realized her mistake, drawing his attention back to her. She should have run, ages ago. But she had been frozen where she stood, unable to walk away without first making sure that her erstwhile rescuer was safe.

Even now, as she and the monster stood staring at each other, her eyes kept flickering to the prone figure on the floor, her legs locked between turning on her heel and running far away … and running to his side to see if he was OK.

Then the monster grinned, his feral teeth on display – and Bonnie made up her mind then to run –

When the grin on his face morphed into a grimace of pain, and his whole body tensed, like if a shock had run through him. _Literally_ tensed – to Bonnie's horror – as she watched his spine curve backwards as his entire body tautened and bent like a bow being drawn. He was screaming now, and even that didn't last as he choked on his voice, the bones of his throat pushing against the skin…

And then he _snapped_. She heard the crack of his back breaking, saw something… red, bloody fly out from his back… Then his whole body collapsed onto the ground.

And behind it lay Kai Parker, half-sitting with his knee bent and his weight supported by one elbow while his other arm was stretched out, his fingers curled like a claw. His face was fixed on the heap of dead monster before him, his dark countenance almost frightening in intensity.

Then his hand relaxed, his fingers flexing out as his arm fell to the ground. He lifted his gaze to Bonnie.

It felt like if those gray-blue eyes had jumped out and grabbed her.

Inexplicably, irrationally, the thought crossed Bonnie's head that now was the real danger. Not from the monster lying dead on the ground – but from the man who had somehow, impossibly and unexplainably saved her.

Now was the time to flee in earnest.

Instead, Bonnie started walking to him.

He didn't move, just kept half-lying there, now resting his weight on both elbows to stare up at her.

She passed the heap of clothes and distorted bones, and gagged a little at the sight of something white and segmented tangled up with the rest – was that a spine? She quickly looked away.

She didn't stop until she was inches away from Kai Parker's long legs. He wore a thin white shirt under his dark jacket. Under the grime from the struggle, she could see that his clothes were worn. The muscles of his torso strained against the cotton. She didn't know why she was so aware of him, she just knew that she was.

Her heart, which had calmed a little as she walked, started racing again.

He tipped his head back as she came an inch closer, and her eyes traced the hair falling over his forehead, down the straight line of his nose to the half-smirk on his lips.

She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. "T-thank you." Her mind was still rebelling against everything she had seen this night. The monstrous man. The speed of the fight. The way Kai Parker had yanked out someone's spine and heart without getting up from the ground.

But even though a part of her consciousness was still trying to rationalize this all as a fevered nightmare, she recognized that Kai Parker had rescued her. So she thanked him.

In response, his smirk widened into a smile and he said nothing.

She shivered, even though it wasn't cold, the sudden wind having vanished as quickly as it had started. Tilting her head a little in the general direction of the monster that attacked her, she asked Kai Parker. "Who was that? _What_ was that?"

"A vampire."

Bonnie gaped.

"Don't look so surprised. You've met one before. On your way through the woods, a few nights before you found me in the rain."

Bonnie's heart jumped. "How do you know that?"

It didn't seem possible, but his smile broadened even further, his teeth slightly bared. It did something to her that smile. Made her feel like backing away slowly, then turning on her heels and running far, far, away. But it also made her feel like coming closer, falling to her knees beside him, reaching out to touch…

She clamped down on that line of thought, her heart racing. The adrenaline from before was rushing back through her veins.

"How do you know that?" she asked again, when all he did was smile and stare.

"You know why," Kai Parker told her, his voice low and dark, like the rumble of a big cat. "I was there."

She took a step back.

"I was the one who saved you, remember?"

* * *

Bonnie stumbled into her house, still panting, her mind still reeling even after the ten minute bus ride.

She had fled when he admitted it. Admitted that he was the one in the woods. Who had grabbed her. Who had _kissed_ her. Fear and something worse churning through her, she had finally backed away, and as she turned, a bus was pulling up at the Stop. Bonnie stumbled onboard, her heart pounding so much that the driver had asked her if she was OK.

She had stammered a response, and told him to drop her off at the first stop that came to mind. Which was how she had made the mistake of stopping near her house, not Elena's.

By the time, she had walked halfway down the street on autopilot and finally realized her mistake, it was too late. The bus had left. The last bus for the day.

And with her dead phone, she couldn't even call a friend to find her.

The moment she got into her house, she locked herself in. Paranoid and scared, she didn't even put on the lights, and made her way to her room in the dark.

Her charger was where it usually was, plugged in next to her bedside lamp. She pushed the dangling cord into her dead phone, and told herself to calm down. In a few minutes, the phone would come on, she'd call Elena, Elena would come and pick her.

Those minutes felt like her entire life.

All throughout, her mind was racing with the memory of what happened that evening. The whispers. The attack … from a _vampire_? Kai Parker. Fighting the vampire. Saving her. His lean body splayed on the ground, long legs open and inviting. His shark-like smile as he told her that he had been the one to 'save' her in the woods.

Been the one to kiss her.

Bonnie felt her stomach clench painfully, as her body flushed with heat.

The phone was turning on. With trembling hands, she stumbled through the apps until she found her dial screen. Elena's name was on speed dial. She reached to tap it…

A hand covered the phone and fished it right out of her grasp.

Bonnie screamed and scrambled backwards, sliding right off the bed and to the window.

Kai Parker stood in the middle of her bedroom, her phone in his hand.

She screamed again and he was right in front of her, his hand over her mouth.

 _Phaesmotos invisique…_

* * *

A/N: Thanks to everyone who left feedback during the long hiatus, caused partly by the rigours of the semester but also by the concern trolling on this fic. Once again - dubious consent, Bonnie is in high school, so there's definitely under-age hanky panky going on. Kai is pre-merge and not nice, bla bla bla. Please don't read this fic if any of this bothers you. I'm trying to stay in a happy place and finish this before summer ends, so if you do read this fic, after all these warnings, and get offended, kindly keep it to yourself. :|

Oh, I almost forgot:

 **HAPPY BONKAI DAY!**


	10. One way or another, I'm gonna get you

**One way or another, I'm gonna get you**

His palm against her mouth, skin on skin, felt like if a bolt of high-wattage electricity had passed from him to her, travelling from her lips, liquefying her core, shock waves rippling out from under her feet.

His eyes widened, his inward breath sharp, and his hand fell from her as his face frozen by the same shock that had wrought its way through her.

Bonnie opened her mouth and screamed and screamed.

The shock on his face disappeared, as a dark implacability took its place. Kai Parker didn't make any move to stop her, just stood watching her, every line in his body telling her that it would be completely futile to get past him.

So she turned round and yanked open her window, stuck out her head and screamed.

She must have screamed for a good five minutes. She watched the familiar car of the couple that lived across pull up their porch, watched them walk from their car and into their house without once raising their heads. An old man walking a dog went across her front lawn. The dog looked up and barked at her. The old man scolded him and they moved on.

Up and down the streets, she could see the silhouettes of occupants in their homes. How could they all not hear her?

It was as if she was invisible…

Large hands went round her waist and then she felt his chest on her back.

The scream died in her throat as she froze. She felt like if her body was burning everywhere he touched her.

"You're wasting your time." His lips were right against her ear.

Bonnie yanked out of his grip and all but flew away from him.

She didn't go far. He reached out a hand and pulled her back in the space between his body and the wall. She couldn't even try to shove him off because she couldn't bear to touch him. Couldn't bear to feel that charge wreck through her arms. Instead, she placed her hands flat on the wall at her sides.

She opened her mouth to scream again -

"Haven't you realized it yet?" Kai Parker asked, his voice mocking. "No one can hear you." His eyes glittered. "No one can help you."

He had said something. The first time she screamed.

Had he said… _a spell_?

It was unreal. But then, everything about this situation was completely unreal. The attack at the library, yes. But even before that – this complete stranger who had in the space of days become clearly and completely obsessed with her. Him showing up on her door and somehow forcing his way into her home.

Into her room.

Her breath was coming in gasps. She struggled to control her breathing, to control the panic rising within her.

"Get out of my house!" She said, trying to put steel in her voice.

He didn't say anything, just cocked his head and stepped – impossibly – even closer to her.

Bonnie stepped backwards at once, and her back hit the wall. "Stay back."

Kai Parker smirked and he moved forward again. She gasped. He was so close to her that if she breathed, her chest would brush his. Her heart was beating so hard, it would probably jump from her body into his, she thought hysterically.

His left hand was on her waist, and his fingers slipped between the band of her skirt and the skin beneath. The charge rocked her again and she whimpered. He hissed sharply, but he didn't let go, his fingers pressing instead more firmly into her skin. She felt like if she was being branded.

"What do you want from me?" she cried.

He lifted his hand and to her complete horror, brushed her lower lip with his thumb. If Bonnie were a braver girl, she'd have tried to bite it. As it was, she just stood there, shock and something deeper, darker paralyzing her as he traced her lips and his gaze seemed to sear through her. Everywhere he touched her, she felt her skin electrify, as if he was awakening nerves that had long lain dormant.

"What do you think, Bonnie?" he asked, hoarsely.

Caroline's voice.

 _"He was imagining you without clothes, spread across his bed."_

Bonnie's chest tightened with something dark and twisted.

Something that felt suspiciously like yearning.

"Please," she whispered, and she wasn't sure whether the word was said in fear or want.

"I saved your life." He bent his head and she felt his thumb slide from her lip to her chin. She watched his mouth come nearer, feeling dizzy. At the last moment, she caught hold of herself and turned her head.

His lips grazed her cheek. "Don't I deserve a thank you?"

"T-thank you. Now let me go."

He chuckled softly, his breath heating her skin and making her insides disintegrate. "A _proper_ thank you, Bonnie." His voice was so deep, so dark, so … tempting. It was like aural venom – drugging…

Lethal.

Her next words caught in her throat when his lips travelled to her ear and she felt his teeth nibble on her earlobe. She gasped, and her hands spasmed, as she barely – just barely – stopped them from reaching out to touch him. Something wet, soft trailed along her lobe and her body jerked and brushed against his entire long, hard length.

Kai Parker froze. She pulled back at once but she had the sinking feeling that the damage had already been done.

The hand on her waist tightened, painfully.

"I can't," he said and even to her ears, his voice sounded … almost … tortured.

He closed the space between them and now there was no escaping what it felt like to have his body flushed against hers, from her shoulders to her knees, her softness yielding to his hard lines.

It felt like being lit on fire.

A familiar heat was spreading out from her core, making her legs shake. She had felt it before. With some boys. Reading some books.

Those were nothing compared to what she felt now.

It was more than yearning. She wanted to _sink_ into him. She wanted him to bury himself _inside_ her. She wanted him to _consume_ her. She was sore and achy, and her hands had got a life of their own, she realized with something like horror. Because somehow they were clinging to his shirt now, fisting the cotton to hold him against her, to keep that firm, throbbing heat right _there_.

Her body was out of her control, her mind fast following, and she didn't know what frightened her more – what he was doing to her, or how badly she wanted to let him.

Rising above the red sea of _want_ drowning her brain was the mantra:

 _But not like this. Never like this_.

He turned her face to his against and once again, she only barely managed to escape his lips. They brushed against the edge of her mouth, soft, smooth, almost begging her to turn her face just an inch to catch his breath-

Tears spilled from her eyes.

He froze.

"Bonnie."

"Please stop," she whispered between sobbing gasps. She wasn't even sure if she was asking him or talking to her own lack of control. She just knew that she couldn't bear this any longer.

She felt, rather than heard, him sigh. He brushed her cheeks with his thumb, catching her tears. Then he stepped back, fractionally. Just enough for him to rest his forehead against hers to stare straight into her large green eyes. His hands came to rest on either side of the wall against hers.

For what felt like forever, they stood there, staring at each other. Clarity seeping slowly through the haze in her brain, and she felt the tension that had been building within slacken… a little.

After a few shaky breaths, she finally let out her breath in a long, shaky, sigh, her tears completely stopped. She tried to wipe her face but he got there first – his hand shaking a little as his fingers ran across her cheeks. And Bonnie realized, to her shock, that he seemed to be struggling as much to control his body as she was.

"One kiss."

His face was still so close to hers that she could feel and hear the words but she still said, "what?"

He closed his eyes, and drew in a deep breath. When he opened them, they were glittering with something she instinctively distrusted. "One kiss and I'll let you go." There was a beat and his mouth twisted. "If you want me to."

Everything in her head told her to say no. That he had no right to use _her_ consent to bargain with her. That even if she agreed, she had absolutely no reason to trust him to keep his own end of the deal. She looked at his mouth, twisted, taunting and an inch from her own.

"OK."

* * *

A/N: For all the readers who left positive feedback - thank you so much! It means the world to me. For the rest of you, you know who you are. It's only going to get worse. So quit it, already.


	11. Devil gets his due

**A/N** : Thank you so much for the outpouring of support and encouragement over the past few days. It meant the world to me after the rough week I had (personal stuff) and then the crap that happened here. Rest assured that I'm not quitting publishing this story.

* * *

 **Devil gets his due**

Bonnie had always been dreadful at haggling. She had never had to learn. When your best friends for as long as you could remember were Elena Gilbert with her legendary charm, and Caroline Forbes with her legendary bossiness, the ability to negotiate became somewhat redundant.

So when Kai Parker's eyes widened at her "OK" – and then his face broke out into a wide grin…

Bonnie felt her heart quail.

What had possessed her?

"No." She tried to get away, yanking her hands from his shirt – had she been holding onto him all this while? "Wait."

"A deal is a deal, Bonnie," he said, singsong.

His hands were firm on her hips. She tried to push them away and felt _it_ again – her fingers burned – she felt him shudder – and yanked her hands back to her side.

"One kiss," she insisted, weakly. "Just the one."

It didn't seem possible, but his grin widened.

"One kiss and you'll let me go," she said. "Promise."

"If you want me to," he reminded her, bringing his face so near hers that their noses touched.

Bonnie tried to turn her head but his hand was on her face, warm against her cheek and holding her in place.

"One kiss and you'll let me go because I'll definitely want you to," Bonnie said, as firmly as she could.

He nodded, still grinning. It was more of a smirk than a smile.

It looked like a threat.

Then his gaze turned to her mouth and every trace of humor, of lightness vanished from his face to be replaced by that familiar look of hunger.

She whimpered a little and closed her eyes, bracing herself.

Now that this was definitely happening, she had never felt more aware of her lips, of her mouth than she did now. Her mouth was completely dry and instinctively, she licked her lips. She felt him gasp, felt his breath wash over her and then his hands were on her waist again, tightening his grip.

She pressed her lips together, instinctively and she realized that they were trembling, that she was trembling all over. The dark tension had started building inside her again. His lips were so close to hers that if she leaned forward even a fraction, they'd be touching, she'd be kissing him. Finally.

The moment stretched on indefinitely.

What was he waiting for?

"Bonnie," he groaned.

Her eyes flew open as his hands on her waist loosened. For a second, she thought he had changed his mind – that he was letting her go – and her hands reached out in panic to grab him – but then he was dropping to his knees in front of her, his hands sliding down the length of her short skirt, his fingers skimming the hem, and down her bare legs to her ankles, his large hands engulfing her now trembling limbs, and then up again to cup the back of her knees.

Well, his right hand stayed on the back of her knee, the other went up and up…

"What are you doing?" she whispered hoarsely.

He looked up at her. His eyes were deep set under dark, hooded brows and from behind thicker, darker lashes and when they bored through her, they looked… he looked deranged.

And ravenous.

Not once breaking eye contact, he pushed at her knee and her legs, which had long turned to butter, staggered apart, then he pressed his cheek against the inside of her thigh, the hem of her skirt brushing his forehead.

He sighed.

"You said one kiss," she managed to whisper. "You promised."

"I didn't say where."

He turned his face into her right thigh and breathed her in. There was really no other way to describe it. His other hand … the one that was under her skirt… hooked through the band of her panties and Bonnie knew that any moment from now, she was going to pass out.

His right hand, the one holding her knee, slid down her leg, under her calf, around her ankle. Then her leg was over his shoulder.

 _Oh god oh god oh god…_

Her right knee – the one in the leg that was still upright – buckled. It was only his firm grip on her that kept her upright.

"I told you I was starving," he murmured against her thigh, his mouth travelling up her body.

He had removed her panties. She had no idea how or when. All she knew, as she struggled to stay conscious, as she struggled to breathe, to not give into the tremors of feelings that were overtaking her body, was that when his mouth got _there_ , nothing was going to be between his lips and her skin.

And that was where Kai Parker kissed her.

Nothing could have prepared Bonnie for this – not Caroline's and Elena's whispered secrets or the books she hid in her panty drawers or that movie Elena had 'borrowed' from Matt's older sister and all three had watched with big eyes and open mouths.

Nothing.

He hummed against her and the sound seemed to reverberate all the way through her to the tips of her fingers and toes. She was barely standing, her body bowed in half, and she couldn't stop shaking. She vaguely noted that her fingers were in his hair, wrapped around the short strands in a way that must have been painful yet he gave no indication that it was. Her other hand was in her mouth, and she was biting so hard on it that there would be marks for a week.

She felt transcendent, like if she had completely left orbit, every movement of his lips, his tongue, his teeth launching her higher and higher, until she was floating completely out of space and time. And at the same time, she felt violated, possessed, like a puppet being played on the strings of the one continuous kiss that she hadn't asked for.

(And, she thought hysterically, it was _one_ kiss. One long, never-ending kiss.)

She felt powerful, dominant, looking down at Kai Parker on his knees, eating her like a starving man. She felt powerless, helpless at how he was making her feel, like she was being forced into an addiction.

He did something with his tongue, and it was like if a string inside her that had been stretching and stretching since he went down on her… in truth, since he showed up on her door… finally snapped.

She pulled her hand out of her mouth and screamed. For a few seconds, her room seemed to vanish and all she could see was blinding white light. Whatever he did, must have killed her. Every bone in her body turned to water. She barely noticed, barely felt him catching her, lifting her. She only noticed when he pulled back and she cried for him not to stop, for him to let her go.

"Bonnie," he whispered close to her ear, his voice so hoarse and deep that she felt it more than she heard it.

Color leeched back in, slowly. And she was staring at his face, his eyes had gone completely black and that demented, relentless hunger…

She swallowed.

Behind his head, she could see the ceiling of her room and only then did she realize that she was lying on her bed and he was over her.

"I want you, Bonnie," he said and his shaking hand curled around her own, and led her down his body.

His fingers tangled with hers as he flicked open his button. Then he pressed her fingers against him, and she felt the cold metal of a zipper. She felt _him_ too, hot, long, aching for her.

Something sharp and twisted gnawed inside her.

It felt like hunger.

He bent his head and his lips were against her neck. She gasped at the sensation of his teeth, nipping against her skin, travelling from the sweet hollow of her throat, up her jaw to her earlobe. One of his hands were on her waist, kneading the skin and turning it into butter. The other hand had tangled with her free hand and his fingers knotted with hers, pining them on the bed beside her head, clenching and unclenching. His movements were no longer smooth, deliberate. They were jerky, shaky, like if he was on the edge of his control. When his lips closed over her earlobe, he bit.

She cried out.

"Bonnie, please," he whispered, panting in her ear. And somehow, she knew without being told, that he wanted - no, _needed_ her to initiate this. That now, finally, she had the power to stop this.

 _"_ _One kiss and I'll let you go. If you want me to."_

She freed her hand from him and grabbed his head by his hair, lifting him from her body.

"You said you'll let me go," she reminded him.

He stared down at her, his jaw clenched, his eyes hot and – yes, demented and his lips red, swollen and shiny with _her_.

Bonnie's held her breath in the long, tense moment that followed when she had no idea what he would do.

Then he lowered those hungry eyes, and drew a deep, shuddering breath that shook the bed and her body, and started sliding from her, crawling backwards on his hands and knees. With every inch, she felt her skin chill from the lack of him.

She sat up fully to watch him as he stood now at the end of her bed. He fastened his pants with jerky fingers. Then his hands twitched restlessly at his sides until he balled them into fists. Those eyes raked her form, once, twice, then he made a half-sound deep in his throat, and he turned to leave.

It was that sound that did her – _un_ did her.

His hand was on the door when Bonnie launched out of the bed. He turned to her, his face twisted with surprise as she grabbed first his sleeve to draw him to her, then his head, her fingers curling and fisting through his hair as she stood on tiptoes and kissed Kai Parker on the mouth.

She tasted herself in his mouth.

His sharp exhale came out as a groan, low and deep and echoing through her body; and he kissed back, and everything in Bonnie Bennett's life spiraled out of control.

His arms wrapped around her, lifting her clean off the ground and he carried her backwards. She felt the back of her thighs hit the bed, then the next moment, she was falling backwards, his weight following her.

His body on top of hers was like a furnace and Bonnie had never wanted so desperately to incinerate. It seemed like if every atom in her body was straining to get closer to him.

His mouth shifted to her cheeks, and he muttered words, hoarse with desperation, into her skin but she barely heard them over the sound of blood rushing in her ears, barely acknowledged them over the throbbing of her own hunger. Her hand was still in his hair and she yanked his lips back to hers, locking them both in the kiss; her other hand slid down his chest, feeling the hot skin underneath his shirt, his muscles straining everywhere she touched, until she reached his button, flicked it open, then his zipper… and pulled it down.

* * *

 **A/N:** So, the title of the chapter wasn't really "I ain't sorry" but it seemed appropriate after the f**kry of the past few days. Long story short - my ff-net was hacked by one or more anti-BK, anti- _me_ persons basically, and this chapter was deleted. I'm just glad that it looks like it was just that chapter, for whatever reason, and not the whole story or the rest of my stories. And I'm definitely going to keep publishing Original Sin on ff-net. I've gone over everything but please, if any of you can spare the time to go over a few of my stories you're more familiar with, and let me know if there's anything off (missing chapters, doctored chapters etc). I'm really worried about my old Star Wars stuff, too.

Once again, dear positive fans of this story - thank you so much for your support. I appreciated every single one and I only wish I was in a position to reply to each and everyone of you personally (but I'm guessing you'd rather I use all that time to work on this story so... lol). And for haters - well, the more harassment I get going forward, then the more risqué the chapters are going to be. So yeah, trolls, you wanna play? **Game On**.


	12. Trapped

**A/N** : Thank you so much for the reviews!

* * *

 **Trapped**

Bonnie woke in the middle of the night.

She was lying on her side, and he was spooning her, or trapping her more like, his arms and legs wrapped so firmly around her that she couldn't move.

She didn't even have the luxury of wondering for a split-second if it had all been a dream.

She tried to wriggle out of his grip, but he stirred and the next moment she was on her back, pinned down under his weight and his piercing stare.

She froze.

"Can't sleep? " he said softly, his gaze searing.

She stared at him silently, her heart pounding in her throat.

What had possessed her last night?

What had _possessed_ her?

"Neither can I," he murmured, his mouth curving into a slow, sinful smirk. His body wrapped around her with the smooth, powerful movements of a large, _dangerous_ cat. "Let's can't sleep together."

She swallowed. "Kai…"

He shuddered, his eyes going impossibly darker. He bent his head so that his face was in her neck. "I love it when you say my name." She felt his mouth, hot and unbearable on her skin and she shivered.

"Please…" she whimpered as his mouth went lower.

His arms around her tightened. "No," he said and the word broke goose-bumps over her flesh. He raised his head and she swallowed at the look in his eyes.

Implacable. Ruthless.

And that burning hunger that seemed to sink below her belly and pool there.

"I'm never letting you go, Bonnie," he whispered fiercely, then his mouth was on her skin again, going lower and lower, and every thought in her head vanished.

* * *

She slept through her alarm, the sunrise, her grandma accidentally setting off the alarm when she walked in that morning, and her voice calling her down for the bus. It was only when Grams burst into her room and shook her that Bonnie's eyes opened reluctantly, wincing at the unexpected light.

"Are you OK, Bonnie dear?" Grams asked. "You've never slept in like this before."

"I'm f-fine," Bonnie stammered, sitting up quickly. It took her a few seconds to register that her grandmother's presence was unexpected. "Grams, when did you get h…?"

"This morning. Long past due, I know. But you know how it is, exam season…"

"Of course, of course, I understand…"

Grams tut-tutted. "You're too understanding for your own good, child. I promised to check on you ages ago."

"I've been fine, really."

"Have you?" Grams touched Bonnie's forehead, her face worried. "You're usually such an early riser."

Bonnie quickly, guiltily glanced at the space beside her on the bed. But there was nothing – no-one there. A quick glance around her room showed no stray article of men's clothing lying around where it had been hastily flung earlier.

Had it all been a dream? A product of her over-active imagination?

"Bonnie?"

She turned back to stare at her grandmother with haunted eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. You _are_ a bit warm." Grams frowned. "Do you think you're coming down with something?"

 _More like someone's going down on me. Repeatedly._ Bonnie struggled and failed to keep the blush from her face.

"Child, you're flushed," Grams observed. "Heaven knows what you've been feeding yourself with, here or at the Gilberts. I'm going to make you something to perk you up. Think you can make it to school, Bonnie? You don't have to if you don't feel up to it."

"I-I'll be fine after a quick shower," Bonnie managed.

Grams glanced at the time. "Make it very quick. You've missed the bus. I'll drop you off on the way back to Whitmore."

It wasn't quick. She needed to wash off every memory of the past twelve hours from her skin, her body, her head. She was aching everywhere, including places she didn't know could ache. But in a good way, too. Or not so much good as … pleasant. She stepped out of the shower, and threw herself a quick nervous glance at the mirror. Her eyes were too large, her mouth was too swollen.

If it was a dream, it was an extremely interactive one.

She dressed up quickly and packed up the abandoned Chem homework.

Then she went downstairs for a bowl of hot soup. Now that did perk her up. Cowardly, she knew, she pushed everything else from her mind except classes and cheerleading practice that afternoon.

* * *

Matt and Tyler walked the trio to cheerleading practice on their way to their own practice. Bonnie kept on a running commentary on all the latest school gossip, so intent on acting as normal as possible that she didn't notice the looks that Caroline, Elena and Matt were exchanging or the disappointment in Tyler's face when he casually tried to take her hand and she wriggled away from him.

The girls dropped off with the cheerleaders already waiting and the boys ran to the field. Warm up was five minutes and then they'd start Caroline's new routine.

"Are you alright, Bon?" Elena asked.

"Sure," Bonnie said, big smile in place as she bent over her split, stretching. "Why?"

"You've been so … _hyper_ all day."

"I have? Guess I'm all pumped for the game, right?"

"Well, unpump a little. The game is weeks away." Elena frowned. "Actually, you look like if you have a fever…"

"Or if you're high," Caroline inserted, plopping down beside the two girls.

Bonnie sat up, curling her legs under her. "Don't be silly."

Caroline just smiled.

"So how did it go last night?"

"Last night?" Bonnie asked, her voice rising a little.

Elena and Caroline exchanged glances. "Evening with Grams? Matt and I went over to the library to get you after we saw your calls, but you weren't there. We called you, no answer, started getting worried for a bit, then you sent us a message that Grams showed up and was taking you to your house."

"Oh," Bonnie said quietly.

Elena looked at her expectantly.

"Yeah… like I wrote… She picked me up…"

"I thought she was busy grading papers at Whitmore?" Elena pressed. "I almost came over to see you myself, really. But you texted again that you couldn't talk because she was staying over and you were cooking dinner together. Then it was already past curfew so Matt and I had to hustle…"

Bonnie stared at her hands. She didn't remember sending any messages last night. What she did remember was…

Her brain threatened to shut down and she struggled with herself for a few long moments.

"Bonnie-" Caroline started.

"Let's talk about something else," Elena said perceptively, giving Caroline a warning look as she shifted protectively closer to Bonnie.

Caroline glared at Elena.

The two looked poised to start one of their power struggles and Bonnie hastily interrupted.

But she also needed to ask.

"Caroline, do you remember the guy we picked up some days ago?"

The two girls stopped bickering to stare at her.

"The what now?" Elena asked.

"What guy?" Caroline asked, looking at Bonnie as if she had grown a second head.

Bonnie shifted uncomfortably. "You know… we got stuck in the rain. We picked up someone. His name was…" At Caroline's increasingly blank stare, Bonnie trailed off.

"Are you sure you're not high?" Caroline asked again.

Elena's perceptive stare was becoming unnerving.

"Sorry," Bonnie said, and not for the first time. She jumped to her feet. "I need to drink some water."

"There're bottles right here!" Caroline called after her, then shrieked a little when Elena poked her.

Bonnie made it to the lockers and sat down on a bench, her head bowed in her hands as she struggled not to hyperventilate.

It had all been a dream. It must have been. A very vivid, very sexy dream. Brought about by reading too many contraband books, and hanging around Caroline and Elena too much. She was going to be a very good girl from now on. Keep away from trashy novels. Not listen too hard to the details of Caroline's sexcapades and Elena and Matt's relationship. She'd stick to her books, cheerleading and church. She'd just-

"Miss me?"

She screamed, springing up and backing away. But she only got as far as the lockers at her back, and Kai was before her, his hands resting on the lockers on either side of her, trapping her.

* * *

 **A/N:** So, my regular scheduled posting has dropped off for a lot of my fics. Real life has crippled my writing time and muse of late and I also feel that there's a definite drop-off in BK readership. So if you're reading/enjoying this and any of my other fics, let me know OK? It really goes a long way to encourage me to keep writing.


	13. Haunted

**A/N** : Thank you so much for the reviews!

* * *

 **Haunted**

Bonnie couldn't get past him. It was useless to even try. So she just stared up at him as her body trembled slightly with helpless dismay.

"Hey," he said and he smiled. It was a dangerous smile. Not friendly, just full of dark, illicit promises.

"Stay away from me," she whispered, her heart beating like a drum.

He cocked his head. "Mmm… Let me think about it." His smile widened. "No."

"Y-you're not real," Bonnie said desperately. "You c-can't be real."

His brows went up and laughter danced in his eyes. "Very well, then," he said and he bent down and claimed her mouth with his own.

Something like lightning seemed to strike through her – from the top of her head to the tips of her curling toes and she _wilted_. Her body curled right into his own, her arms going up – completely against her volition – to wrap around his neck as his tongue plundered through her mouth, stroking and lapping and licking, before he pulled away to taste her lips, groaning slightly.

His hands had gone round her waist, his fingers slipping through her skimpy uniform to bury into the skin beneath, and he lifted his mouth from hers to kiss her cheeks, her forehead, the whorls of her ears. She shivered every time his lips pressed against hers, her body shaking now even as she pushed herself impossibly further into him, wanting to feel his hard, strong length as close to her as possible.

He whispered something – something in Latin – and then she felt like if she was falling.

And she was falling. Her back hit something soft, bouncy, familiar.

A bed.

Bonnie didn't even get a chance to be surprised, to panic before his body was on top of hers, his mouth devouring her own. Sensation rocked through her and she didn't know whether she was coming or going only that she didn't – couldn't – want him to stop.

"Still think I'm not real," he murmured between kisses as they panted into each other's mouths.

Bonnie swallowed hard, then curled her fingers into his thick hair and pulled his mouth back to hers.

* * *

It was almost a fortnight after Bonnie had driven in the rain with Caroline by her side and she was making her way home. She was a better driver now, even though Caroline hadn't got a chance to tutor her for some time. Bonnie had a new teacher now. In more ways than one.

She was getting better at a lot of things, too.

Her heart was still pounding as she walked down the street, one full hour after cheerleading practice was supposed to have ended. Only she had skipped - had to skip - cheerleading practice and it was more like three hours now since _he_ had shown up beside her locker and lured her away.

He had a room at the Salvatore's boarding house and more often than not they went there – Kai told her he loved the way she looked in _his_ bed, a remark that had drawn out the appropriate reaction from her. Now Bonnie couldn't remember the last time she had slept in her own room.

In fact, the only reason why she was even coming home today at all was because Grams had called to say she was coming to spend a few days in Mystic Falls.

For the first time in in a long time… Bonnie wished her Grams would stay put in Whitmore. Or that at least, rather than Grams, it was Dad that was around. Not because she particularly missed him or wanted him around but because her Dad would barely look at her when she walked through the door - assuming he was even in the house, and not working late and trying to avoid her, as usual.

Grams would be harder to get anything by. She'd ask questions. She'd pick up that Bonnie was jittery, flushed and hadn't changed clothes like she usually did after cheerleading practice.

She had wanted to. But she had barely been able to get back into the ones she had worn to school that morning.

It had been almost a fortnight and she still didn't have a name for what was happening to her. She thought she might be going insane. Or maybe she was being drugged or brain-washed or something. She knew she had to tell someone what was going on. That it wasn't normal, and probably wasn't legal, the way Kai showed up at odd times, in odd places - usually when she was by herself, away from her friends, alone… and did _things_ to her. Bonnie's face flushed thinking about it and she rubbed her palms against her jeans nervously. She said no every-time and it didn't make any difference. To him or to her.

 _"I'm not coming with you to Portland," she said, her hands fumbling as she did her buttons._

 _He reached over and swapped her fingers away. She trembled a little, not knowing whether he was going to help her put on her clothes - or help her take them off._

 _He started undoing the three buttons that she had done._

 _"No…" she said, weakly._

 _He laughed and pressed his lips against hers, hard, passionately._

 _Bonnie moaned and clutched at his shoulders. "I have to get back. Please… My grandma…"_

 _"Cheerleading practice, remember? Or are you trying to get away from me, Bon?"_

 _"No… Yes… You have to stop this."_

 _He pulled back, smiling that wicked smile that made her both incredibly scared and incredibly turned on. "Make me stop." And maybe she would have tried, but one hand snaked around her waist and yanked her back to him._

He had brought up this idea of going to Portland a few days ago and Bonnie still didn't know how she had the strength to keep saying no. She was afraid that he would one day, just hold her hand and _take_ her there – the same way he seemed capable of literally transporting them across town in the blink of an eye. But he never tried and for that at least, she was grateful. The idea of going across the country with a virtual stranger, regardless of how intimately she knew his body or he knew hers – made her panic. Especially someone that she was still frankly frightened of.

There was so much about this that was unreal. His ability to do magic – because what else could she describe it as? – was low on the scale beneath his single-minded obsession with her. Then there was the fact that she, Bonnie Bennett, was having sex on the regular with a virtual stranger. Had taken to lying to her friends and her family about it. After that first time, she had tried talking to Caroline again. But when she mentioned the name 'Kai Parker', Caroline's face had gone completely blank.

 _"Did you do something to Caroline?" she managed to ask once, while she lay on her side, his body curled around her. He always held her a little too tightly, so that she literally couldn't leave him while he was asleep._

 _Everything about him overwhelmed her, she thought despairingly._

 _"Like what?" he murmured against her neck, but there was laughter in his voice._

 _"She doesn't remember you at all. Not the ride in the car. Not my talking about you. It's like you don't exist for her."_

 _"That's convenient, isn't it? No nosy friend asking you pesky questions." He pressed a kiss into the curve of her shoulder, and she felt it all the way to her toes._

 _She squirmed against the hardness she felt forming against her backside._

 _"Kai… What are you?"_

 _"Why ask a question you already know the answer to?" he murmured, turning her around to kiss her mouth silent._

This was consuming her. _He_ was consuming. She was sleeping badly – when she got any sleep at all. She couldn't think, couldn't eat. For the first time in her life, she was cutting classes. She had skipped practice so many times that Caroline was officially pissed at her. It was all she could do to keep up appearances in front of Elena and Matt, and even then the strain was getting to her.

Bonnie reached her front door, and paused, taking a deep breath to calm herself. Then she pulled out her keys and slid them into the lock – only for the door to open to Sheila Bennett's face staring at her gravely.

"Child, you and I are going to have a talk."

* * *

There was absolutely no way he was going to Portland without her.

It had started out as… In all fairness, Kai wasn't quite sure what it had started out as. Yes, he had told himself that he just wanted to mess with Bonnie's head. Wanted to see how far he could go with a younger, more vulnerable version of the woman whom he had been obsessing over since the moment he first laid eyes on her. It was a measly reward for watching out for her, keeping her safe from the predators she was so blissfully unaware were circling around her.

But even then he knew he was lying to himself. He knew that he just … wanted her.

And now that he had her, he almost wished he never had.

This was consuming him. _She_ was consuming him.

He was a man obsessed now. He needed to be around her, all the time. Sex, yes, oh dear spirits, yes. Sex with her blew his mind every single time. But even beyond the sex, a moment without her – not knowing where she was, what she was doing, whom she was with, if she was thinking about him – was a moment where he was slowly going mad.

He barely glanced at the grimoires now. Had finally found Sheila Bennett's place but had made no attempt to do a break-in and glean whatever information he could use against his coven. He couldn't even remember the last time he checked if Jo was back. Thankfully his contact had been silent as well because Kai wasn't sure he was in a frame of mind to care.

The only thing in Kai's head these days was Bonnie Bennett and getting as close to her for as long as humanly possible.

And perversely, it was this obsession of his that was taking him from her. Because he needed to know more – about Traveller's magic, his stay in this time, what he could or could not do that would endanger or profit his future. Its limits. If he could stretch this indefinitely.

And so he needed the coven leader's grimoires and there was only one place he could get it. He had to go back to Portland.

And he had to make Bonnie come with him.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thanks again for the reviews! I was really touched to get so many in such a short time, all saying the same thing. I love this pairing and as long as people keep sending reviews to let me know they are reading my stories, I'm definitely encouraged to keep writing them. So don't be shy: a little feedback goes a long way.


	14. The Intervention

**The Intervention**

"Grams!" Bonnie greeted, her voice rising as she stared at the woman on her doorsteps.

"Come in, child. Change out of your uniform and come downstairs and then we'll talk."

Heart pounding, wondering what of so many things Grams could be referring to, Bonnie showered and dressed quickly then met the old lady in the kitchen.

Grams was having a drink, and Bonnie wished desperately she could get one for herself but she was clearly already walking on thin ice.

"What's going on, Bonnie?"

 _I'm having sex… with an older man. No, not a man. A wizard. An evil wizard. I know this sounds crazy, but I think he's cast a spell on me. He's trying to take me away. I'm tired of fighting him. Help me._

"Nothing," Bonnie said as brightly as possible. "Why? Is anything wrong?"

"Don't be smart with me, young lady. Your teachers've been complaining about you – missing classes, missing practice. I already know you didn't have cheerleading practice today. So where've you been all afternoon?"

She had never seen her grandmother look so angry. Weak-kneed, Bonnie sank into a chair.

"Bonnie," Grams said, her voice softer now. "Are you… are you seeing someone outside school?" she sounded hesitant, as if the idea was too incredible to believe.

For some reason that irked Bonnie. "No," she lied angrily. "I just… it's almost summer. Exams are behind us. I just wanted to catch a break now and then. I…"

"You're a terrible liar, Bonnie Bennett." Grams's voice had gone back to being angry.

"I'm not lying. It's the truth," Bonnie denied desperately.

 _What's wrong with me? She can help me. I should tell her._

 _Why can't I tell her?_

But she knew why. If she told her Grams, her Grams would put a stop to it. Magic or not, Kai Parker won't stand a chance against Sheila Bennett's sheer force of will.

And now, confronted with the possibility that this _thing_ with Kai could end, Bonnie realized to her utter shock that she didn't want it to.

Couldn't bear it if it did.

 _What is wrong with me? Am I really under a spell?_

Grams's steely gaze seemed to sear through her but Bonnie held it as best she could, staring into her grandmother's eyes without blinking.

It was Grams that looked away first but not before Bonnie caught the glimpse of disappointment in her eyes.

She felt sick to her stomach.

But all Grams said after a long pause was a quiet, "Don't skip school again, Bonnie."

* * *

Grams actually dropped her off at school and, much to Bonnie's private humiliation, watched as Bonnie actually _entered_ the building. Although no one else seemed to notice, Bonnie could feel the old woman's eyes peering through her back as she climbed up the steps.

Caroline was waiting for her at the top and the look on her face made Bonnie's heart quail.

But for a change, Caroline wasn't on Bonnie's case for missing practice. It was something about a dress that had come in the mail and she wanted to know if Bonnie had got hers.

"What dress?" Bonnie wondered, as she rifled through her locker, trying to figure out what books she needed for homeroom.

Caroline stopped mid-interrogation and gave Bonnie an askance look. "Our matching fairy outfits for the pre-game dance?"

Bonnie frowned, struggling to remember her timetable.

"Bonnie! It's all we've talked about for weeks now!"

Kai Parker was all that had been in Bonnie's head for weeks now. How was she supposed to remember stupid things like _fairy costumes_?

Bonnie resisted the urge to say just that and mumbled instead, "I'll ask around. Maybe one of the neighbors picked it up."

Caroline's eyes almost popped out of their sockets, clearly beyond outraged at Bonnie's lack of concern on this matter. She was opening her mouth to say something when the homeroom bell rang. With a narrowed glare at Bonnie, she scurried off for the student exec duties she did during this period.

Bonnie slammed her locker shut, and slowly started making her way down the suddenly empty corridor.

Suddenly, strong arms wrapped around her, and pushed her into a dark and empty classroom.

She blinked as the light in the room turned on and she looked up at Kai Parker's furious face.

"What happened yesterday?" he asked, his dark brows furrowed as he glared down at her.

"Shouldn't I be asking you?" Bonnie snapped. What the hell kind of stupid question was that? Nothing had happened. Literally, as _he_ well knew. He hadn't shown up at her house. He hadn't spirited her to the boarding house. For the first time in what felt like ages, she had had a good night's sleep.

She had woken up in an extraordinarily bad mood.

He cocked his head, eyes narrowing. "Was your grandmother around?"

Bonnie nodded, unnerved by his question. What did Grams have to do with anything?

He chuckled, but it was bitter, no humor in it. "Figures."

Before she could press the point, he turned that burning gaze at her. "We have seats for the red-eye to Portland."

Fear creeped up Bonnie's spine. "I'm not coming."

He scowled and stepped closer, menacingly, close enough that a hand couldn't pass between their bodies and she felt her knees shake, her breath catch in her throat, but she lifted her chin and kept her eyes steady on his. "I'm not coming."

He raised an index finger and pressed it lightly on the skin between her eyes, then gently let it slide down until it was resting against her lips, smiling as her breath became shallower. He stroked her lips slowly, lazily. Her hands were on his arms now, her legs barely holding her upright.

"Do I need to persuade you?" he murmured, dark eyes searing her.

"Kai… _please…_ "

The mocking gaze on his face morphed into sheer hunger and he bent down and kissed her, his mouth mapping her own thoroughly until she was moaning, bucking against him. He slid his lips to her cheeks and whispered something and she wasn't even surprised when the bright walls around them was replaced by the dark walls of his room in the boarding house. Her hands were in his shirt, undoing buttons so quickly that some flew off while her own clothes literally vanished one by one, every-time he touched them. All except her panties, which he slid off with his teeth.

Bonnie only managed to make it back in time to her first class. Then at lunchtime, while Elena and Caroline bickered over her head about their next cheer, she sent her Grams a text message.

She stuck to her friends like glue for the rest of the day, not even venturing into the bathroom by herself.

When the bell rang that afternoon, Grams was waiting at the lot to pick her up, no questions asked. As the car took her away from school and to safety, Bonnie could swear she felt angry eyes boring into her back.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thanks for the lovely feedback! Keep them coming. I know I've been taking a long time over this story, but feedback is always encouragement to a writer. :D


	15. Heirloom

**Heirloom**

Bonnie spent the night at Grams's apartment at Whitmore. She sent Kai one message and switched off her phone.

She slept soundly, waking up that Saturday morning to the sun pushing past her curtains, not to slow, drugging kisses snatching her breath, or an insistent hand working between her thighs or – best of all – a ravenous mouth already eating his fill of her.

Her own hand was a poor substitute for any of these, and when she came, curled up on her side, she almost wept.

She had a cold shower, donned clean clothes and ate a silent breakfast by herself while Grams graded papers in the study.

It was going to be a quiet weekend, Bonnie thought, chewing glumly. She wasn't going to risk hanging out with Caroline and Elena if it meant bumping into him at Mystic Falls. For all she knew, he postponed his flight to stay back and drag her along.

The thought of Kai made her feel sick in the heart. And in her stomach, she realized mid-chew. She could barely put her food down and she ended up throwing the rest of her barely touched breakfast into the trash. A few minutes later, she threw up the little she had managed to eat.

When she was done, she dabbed cool towels on her suddenly feverish face. This was ridiculous. Her emotions were actually making her sick. Her head, her heart, her whole body were screaming at her to let herself be dragged along. That and the fact that she now hated sleeping without Kai Parker wrapped around her like a warm, limby, _horny_ blanket… were all the more reasons for Bonnie _not_ to give in. If she wasn't careful, he – this _thing_ with him – was going to turn her into an addict.

She needed to talk to someone about this. Someone older, with authority to put a stop to this, to help her through this. That's precisely what she would tell any of her friends if they came to her with this problem.

She should tell Grams.

She did nothing of the sort.

In the middle of a listless day, spent studying and catching up with a week's worth of late assignments and fighting daydreams of Kai, Bonnie was summoned to her Grams's study.

"Bonnie, come here for a moment."

She stepped into the austere den and found Grams holding a small box, short and narrow like a jewel case.

"Open it."

Bonnie did, and a large amber pendant, hanging from a rope of glass beads fell into her hand.

"Wow, it's so pretty," she cooed, excited. She was already mentally cataloguing the best outfits to go with it. She lifted up the chain and gasped with delight at the way the pendant seemed to throb in the light. "Thanks, Grams," she said gratefully. She loved jewelry like this but she rarely got them as presents. Caroline thought they were cheap. Elena thought they were childish. Her dad didn't think about anything to do with her at all.

"Let me help you put it on," Grams offered and Bonnie turned around, lifting her hair so that Grams could lock the necklace in place.

"Ow," Bonnie gasped, as the pendant fell against her. The rope was so long that she could tuck it into her shirt. "It's heavier than it looks."

"It's not just a trinket, Bonnie," Grams said gravely. "It belonged to your ancestor, Emmanuelle Bennett and it has been in our family for generations. Handle it with the respect it deserves."

"I will, Grams," Bonnie said at once, lifting the pendant again to look at it with new eyes.

Grams frowned down at the young girl, even now filled with misgiving, then she shook her head, firmed her resolve. "Go back to your books, Bonnie. You have a lot of catching up to do."

Blushing at the rebuke, Bonnie mumbled a reply and left.

* * *

She could only hide out in Whitmore for so long. On Sunday night, Sheila dropped her off and Bonnie watched her grandmother drive away from the doorway of her empty house.

There was a package with her name on it, tucked behind the bushes. She picked it up, confused, wondering what it could possibly be as she stepped into her house.

She dropped the package on the floor, turned on her own phone as she locked the door behind her, scores of messages came in. She ignored the dozens from Caroline and Elena, and even the two from Tyler, and zoomed in on the ones from Kai.

The one. There was only the one. He had got her message and was off to Portland on his own. He wished her a happy weekend.

She frowned at it for a long time. She had spent the whole weekend hiding from him, and he had left on Friday night without even putting up a fight. Feeling extremely put out, she slammed her phone shut.

She had eaten at her Grams, and had got her homework done. She had even packed her bag for school the next day. She had nothing left to do, really, but to settle in for the night. She took a shower, slowly. He had surprised her in the shower once. It had been… nice.

But no surprise shower sex tonight. Or surprise kitchen sex when she went down for a cup of cocoa.

 _She was pottering with a sandwich when he snuck up behind her, his arm snaking around her – and making her jump – to grab the sandwich from her plate. She turned around, annoyed, in time to see him take a bite._

 _"_ _That was mine," she complained, watching his jaw move while he grinned smugly around it._

 _"_ _I'll make you a better one," he said, around his food, which should have been disgusting, but somehow ended up being endearing._

 _She was looking away, startled and confused at where that thought came from, when he took her hand and brought it to his lips._

 _"_ _You've got jam on your fingers," he murmured, his eyes locking into her own, and the tip of his tongue pressed into the space between her index and her middle finger._

 _She was instantly – immediately – wet._

 _He took his time, licking every inch of the skin of her palm, then the back of her hand 'just in case', and then sucking each of her fingers, hard, long, slow. All the while, his eyes boring into hers, getting darker and darker with each moment that passed._

 _By the time he was swallowing her little finger, she was sure she was going to faint. And he didn't look much better._

 _Wordlessly, he let her hand fall, then he turned her around so that she could – gratefully – lean against the counter for support, as he pushed down the tiny sleep shorts and slid into her._

The memory sent a burn through Bonnie now. If she thought about it hard enough, she could feel his tongue between her fingers.

It was when she found herself seriously considering leaving the front door open – a far cry from weeks ago when she had been too scared to even stay in her house alone – that she knew she had a big problem.

She sent him another message before she went to bed.

"I'm back." She hesitated, her fingers hovering over the touchscreen. Then quickly, before she could change her mind, she added "I missed you", and sent the message.

The necklace really was heavy and she put it under her pillow before she lay her own head down. She was almost asleep when his reply came.

"Welcome home. I missed you, too."

She went to sleep smiling.

When she woke up the next morning, there was one more from him.

"I'm back."

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Dun dun dun. _  
_Thanks for the feedback on this story! It's very much appreciated. :)_


	16. Reunion

**Reunion**

"I'm back."

The text message had thrown her for a loop that morning. She had dawdled so much that she had kept Elena, who was giving her a ride, waiting. She had even forgotten to put on her necklace, even after picking out the outfit to wear with it. The message haunted Bonnie all throughout homeroom, and classes. She could barely pay attention in History and Mr. Tanner picked on her – unfairly, she felt. She kept waiting for Kai to surprise her. In the bathroom, behind the bleachers during lunch break. In the parking lot where she wondered to check if she had 'forgotten' something in Elena's car.

Nothing.

Bonnie caught herself lingering in the hallway after the bell rang, waiting with bated breath for ghostly fingers to touch her neck then powerful arms to yank her to his body and out of the school.

Nothing.

She even checked her phone to see if he had called or texted again. It wasn't his style. He usually gave only one warning and then he appeared. But she checked, all the same.

Nothing.

By the time the final bell rang, she was a mess.

"Cheerleading practice today!" Caroline snapped when she saw Bonnie packing her bag frantically.

Bonnie nearly dropped her bag in dismay. "What? Today?"

Caroline narrowed her eyes. "You are not bailing out this time, Bonnie Bennett."

"But – but I…"

"But what?" Her friend pressed. "Go on, Bonnie. Spill it."

She couldn't.

Caroline gave a tight smile. "I thought so. If you miss practice, Bonnie, I'll make sure your Grams knows."

Of all days for her friend to turn on her bitch-mode.

The next two hours were torture. Bonnie half-dreaded, half-hoped he would turn up during practice. The last time he had, he had stared at her during practice and she had missed all her moves. She had begged Caroline to use the bathroom and her friend had waved her off with thinly disguised annoyance. She had barely left the field before he was dragging her to the back of the school, his hands all over her. They only just made it to the boarding house.

Now, she was in the middle of a split when that particular memory hit her and she bent her hot face to her knee. She was warm all over just thinking about it.

Why hadn't he come to get her yet?

Could he have – and Bonnie's stomach twisted so much at the thought that she nearly threw up – got tired of her?

After practice, she didn't have time to change – didn't want to, in truth – and she did something she'd never done before and begged Elena for her car keys. Her friend handed them over with nary a question, partly because of her own sweet nature but also probably because she was so taken aback. Bonnie piled her things into the car and zoomed off, Caroline's disapproving face and Elena's surprised face watching her through the rear-view mirror.

He had texted that he missed her. He didn't have to but he did. That had to mean something, right?

The Salvatore boarding house was twenty minutes from the high school, all the way across town from her house, but Bonnie barely even got any nerves driving on her own. Grams had promised to call to check on her. But Bonnie didn't care.

It had been the whole bloody weekend.

It was only when she pulled up at the boarding house that she choked.

Maybe Kai _had_ got tired her, she thought, her heart pounding painfully as the thought plagued her mind again.

Wasn't that what Bonnie had always wanted? For Kai to leave her alone? How many times had she asked – begged him – to let her go?

She bit her lip, her hands twisting around the steering wheel.

Maybe that "I missed you, too" was just politeness – returning her own sentiment.

 _Just drive home_ , Bonnie. She told herself. _Drive home and forget about Kai Parker and this whole craziness. It was a pre-summer fling. And now it's over._

She could do that, she told herself. Her hand tightened on the wheel. She didn't move.

 _Move!_

Now the voice in her head distinctly sounded like her Grams. She moved her hand to turn the key…

… and a large hand covered her own.

She gasped – more out of relief than fear and looked up into Kai Parker's face.

He was dressed in his usual black jeans, with a white button-down shirt peeking through his open black jacket. He hadn't shaved in days and dark hair dusted his jaws and his chin. It made him look even more dangerous than he usually did.

Dangerous and hot.

With a sinking heart, Bonnie realized – now that it was too late – that she should have driven off when she had the chance.

"Going somewhere?" he asked, his eyes searching her face. His fingers twined through her fingers, trapping them.

"I… I," she stammered and he smirked. It made her feel hot – with anger for a change. "You ignored me all day."

His smirk broadened. "I thought you didn't like it when I popped up over at your school?"

She lifted her chin. "You could have sent a text."

"I did. I told you I was back. You didn't reply."

She felt her face burn.

His fingers trailed from her hand to her elbow, curling around her upper arm and drifting to her chin.

Sparks lit up on her skin with every touch and her breathing turned uneven.

He cupped her cheek and leaned closer through her window. "Did you miss me, Bonnie?" His breath washed over her and it was suddenly hard for her to keep her eyes open. And when she did, she couldn't stop looking at his mouth.

"I…" She licked her lips, suddenly nervous.

His eyes darkened and he bent lower, his lips almost but not quite touching hers.

"I missed you. So much," he whispered against her mouth. She whimpered, trying to catch his lips but he turned, pressing a kiss into the corner of her lips.

She leaned back, and away – she couldn't bear it, this teasing. But he just followed, his lips now trailing to her cheek. "I thought of you every single minute. Your smell. Your taste."

His mouth returned to her mouth and they brushed against hers, a chaste touch that made her moan in frustration.

"Tell me you missed me," he murmured, his words breathing against her lips. "I want to hear you say it."

"I missed you," she said at once, desperately. She felt his smile.

Then his mouth moved back to hers and he did kiss her then, her lips opening under his and his tongue slipping in, stroking against her own softly, slowly, sweetly, licking and humming. His hand had drifted to her hair and he was running his fingers through the strands, tugging at them slightly to align her face with his own.

Automatically, her hands drifted to his shoulders and they were clinging to him. His mouth left her own, and she cried softly, then sighed when he moved his lips to her neck and sucked at the skin there, nibbling then soothing with his tongue.

"Bonnie," he groaned, and he rested his face, cheek down on her shoulder, panting.

"Kai," she whispered, pleading but for what she wasn't sure. Her brain was completely fogged up. She couldn't think. "We can't. I can't be seen…"

He nodded against her shoulder, then with a soft sigh, pulled out of the car. Immediately, Bonnie felt the loss of him and she was cold. But almost at once, he opened her door and helped her out. He was standing so near the door that she had no choice but to squeeze into the space between his body and the car and she could tell from his smirk that that was no accident.

It seemed like it was only then that he noticed her outfit because his eyes darkened in appreciation. His fingers slid down her short skirt and slipped underneath, splaying over her hips and clutching her possessively.

"Wow," he murmured, watching her shiver under his hands. "You really missed me, didn't you?"

"Kai…"

He pushed against her, their hips locking together and kissed her, wildly now, desperately, his mouth catching her breath over and over again until she stopped trying to match him, and just clung to his shoulders, holding on for dear life. When he finally pulled away, they were no longer standing in the parking lot but in his bedroom in the Salvatore house.

No matter how many times he did this, it still sent a shiver down her spine. Not of fear or horror. But of excitement.

"Come," he said.

He was walking backwards to his bed, pulling her along with him, his hands still on her hips. He never once turned his head to watch where he was going. His hot, hungry gaze was all for her.

Bonnie's whole body was trembling with anticipation.

"The next time I leave, you're coming with me," he said, his voice deep and low and stretching her skin thin. It wasn't a request.

She shivered, and this time not from desire. "Kai," she said slowly.

His grip on her tightened but he said nothing. He had backed all the way to the edge of the bed and he sat on it now. She was still standing between his hands and he drew her right between his thighs.

Then he let go of her and lifted her hands from his shoulders, and placed them flat against his shirt. His skin was hot under her palms and she swallowed. His hands went back round her, now to the skin between the bottom of her short blouse and the top of her shorter skirt, his long fingers splayed to span her waist, kneading her ribs softly and making her whole body turn into butter.

And still her hands rested on his chest, the unsteady drumming of his heart beneath her fingers as she fought the instinct to snatch her fingers away. But his eyes were practically burning her face and there was a challenge in his gaze.

Something small and quiet in her brain told Bonnie that she was about to cross a line that she could never cross back. A line that she had started walking towards the moment she had taken the step to come to him instead of the other way around. This was important, that small and quiet voice told her, urgently. But it was getting softer and softer and soon, she could barely hear it.

Breathing was hard. Her lungs felt shallow and she actually felt a little faint. She flexed her fingers against Kai, more to stop herself from swaying than anything but he gasped, his pupils dilating, and she could feel his muscles bunching underneath her hands. Warmth was spreading all through her body.

It shouldn't by now, but still, it always surprised her to realize just how much of an effect her touch had on him. She was so used to being out of her depth around him, that it never fully registered how easily he came undone the few times she took the initiative in this.

Like now.

Bonnie's fingers curled into the material of his shirt and she yanked him forward slightly. He gasped again, and his hands tightened on her. Just in time, too. Her knees had turned into water. She took a deep breath and undid the first button.

Kai smiled then, triumphantly; his eyes were shining, wide, wild and full of sin.

The second button followed and she was slipping her hands inside his shirt, placing them against the hot skin beneath, then twirling her fingers through the dark curls. He hissed her name, and then they both moaned together, her forehead falling forward to rest against his own.

Then he tipped his head back and caught her mouth with his own, greedy, hungry, plundering even though he was beneath her. She moved her hands over his chest and felt him shiver everywhere she touched him. His own hands were wandering, slipping from her waist to the back of her skirt, cupping her firmly, then slipping under her skirt, his fingers working their magic.

"Bonnie," he murmured, when they pulled apart to breathe, then he pulled her mouth down again.

Bonnie moaned against his lips, squirmed against his fingers and this time, her whole body fell into him. He caught her, pulling up her knees so that she was straddling him on the bed. She could feel him under her, hard and eager for her. She was wet, had been since his fingers had tangled with hers in the parking lot.

She was trying to push his shirt back from his shoulders, needing to feel as much of his skin as possible and he helped her, twisting out of it without breaking the kiss. His hand had returned to her panties, and now, she was shuddering against his busy, wonderful fingers. Her whole body was shaking now, as pleasure so intense that it was almost painful was coursing through her blood like liquid fire. She wrapped an arm around his broad shoulders and held on as if her life depended on it.

He broke the kiss to bury his face in her neck. "The next time I leave, you're coming with me, Bonnie," he muttered into her skin.

It sounded like a threat.

She was too far gone to care.

She turned her head so that that their mouths merged again, tongues clashing and tangling desperately as her hands slid down the trail of hair on his stomach, softly caressing the muscles beneath, to reach his belt.

* * *

A/N: Thanks so much for all the reviews. Although... I couldn't help but notice a sharp drop in volume. Y'all still reading/interested in this fic, right? The long gaps between updates haven't ticked you guys off once and for all? ::bites nails nervously::


	17. Magic and Mystery

**Magic and Mystery**

"You're a wizard, aren't you?" Bonnie murmured sleepily against his chest.

His hand, which had been stroking down her back, stilled for a fraction of a second, then continued.

"However did you guess?" and she could hear the rumble of laughter in his chest.

She smacked him, lightly and he laughed out loud.

"Is it something you're born with or is it something you become?"

"Why?" Kai murmured, his lips stroking the hair on top of her head. "Thinking of becoming one?"

She shrugged, but he could feel the slight little hitch of anticipation in her breath.

"You're born with magic or you're not. A mundane who thinks he's got his hands on power is going to find out one day that he's just some witch's puppet. By then it would be too late."

"And _you_ 're born with magic?" she pressed.

She could hear the smile in his voice. "After a fashion."

"What does that mean?"

His hand slid down the smooth silky skin of her back to catch her own. He lifted it up, his fingers locking with hers.

"Like you, I come from a witch family. Unlike you, I wasn't born with powers of my own."

Bonnie gasped, raising her head so that she could look him in the face and see if he was having her on. He stared back at her, his gray-blue eyes serious.

"I'm not a w-witch. I'm not from a witch family. My dad's a CFO. My grandma teaches…"

"Occult studies at the Whitmore University. Women's lib, too."

Bonnie's eyes widened. "I'm not a witch," she insisted.

He raised his other hand to stroke her face, fingers trailing down her nose, then her cheeks. Despite herself, she shivered, feeling her core beginning to clench with that familiar, sweet tension.

"Most witches find their magic by the time they're eleven. You're late to come into your powers. I don't know why. I guess you'll have to ask your Grams someday. What I won't give to hear that conversation." Something flashed through his face – anger, bitterness? – and was gone before she could identify it. "But you're from one of the oldest and most powerful magical families in the world. Your ancestors created immortals, alternate dimensions the size of a whole planet, and destroyed monsters that would have eaten dinosaurs for breakfast. And you, Bonnie Bennett, are more powerful than all of them combined."

Kai's face was stern, his words slow and grave and she felt goosebumps break over her body.

"You're scaring me," she whispered.

"You're the scary one," he murmured, his hand finally leaving her face to stroke down her neck, then gently, but firmly cup her breast.

She grabbed his hand, pushed it away. A sudden, horrid thought had just occurred to her. "Is that why you're… we're…?" Her cheeks filled with blood but she didn't stop, gesturing between their naked selves. "Is that why you want me? For my power?" Anger and misery gripped her at the possibility.

Kai started, clearly taken aback by her question. "Have I tried to take magic from you… yet?"

"How would I know?"

"Oh Bonnie," he said with a laugh. "Sometimes, I forget how young you are."

She recoiled, furious and tried to get away from him. But he was too fast, too powerful, and she was on her back, his limbs forming a cage around her as he knelt over her.

"Let me go…" she said, tried to shove him off. It was like trying to shove a hill.

"Take my word for it, Bon, if I tried to take magic from you, you'll know," he said with a smirk.

"So why… this? What do you want from me?"

He raised an eyebrow, and lowered his gaze to take in the entire, naked, voluptuous length of her and then back to her blushing face.

"I mean… a-apart from the obvious?" she stammered.

Something like confusion filled his face then. "I don't think I could stay away from you if I tried."

She had more questions but he was kissing her then, and the only sounds she could make for a while later were sighs and moans.

* * *

"What's in Portland? More witches?"

"My family. So, yes."

Bonnie sat up, twisting around so she could look into his face. "What are they like? What is that like, growing up in a family of witches?" Her mind filled with vague images of Kai in glasses, flying on a broom, and she snorted.

He didn't smile. Instead a cloud passed briefly over his face. "Like growing up in any family, I guess. We celebrated Halloween a bit differently, though."

There was something in his face that made her not feel like asking any questions.

She turned back on her side, felt his hand come up to stroke her hair as if in apology.

"What's it like growing up in a family that pretends to be mundane?" he asked.

Despite herself, she laughed. "Just like growing up in any other family. My dad is a CFO somewhere, so that means he's never at home. I spend most summers with my grams. She's cool."

"Your mom?"

"My mom took off before I could talk. She sends me a card and money every birthday and Christmas. She doesn't even know me enough to get me a proper present." She forced a carefree laugh. "So, yeah, just like growing up in any other broken home, I guess."

She felt his face press into the top of her shoulder.

Long moments passed and she was almost asleep, when she heard him say, "my mom and dad called me an abomination for the first time when I was twelve. Taught my siblings to do the same."

She inhaled sharply.

He laughed, bitterly. "That hurt my feelings."

"Oh, Kai…" she whispered. Why? But it didn't matter, did it? What reason could possibly justify that?

"Screw all our parents," he said, his voice still low and warm on her skin.

"Maybe they didn't mean it that way…" she started weakly, her heart aching.

He laughed, and this time around, it wasn't bitter, just fond. "You're adorable." He pressed his hand on her waist, coaxing her to turn. "If you want to make me feel better, I have some ideas…"

She laughed, breathlessly, her heart starting to race as warmth coursed through her core. "Is this normal? Don't you ever get tired?"

He laughed, his breath mingling with hers as their foreheads pressed together. "Let's find out."

* * *

The buzzing of her phone stirred her awake. It was a message from Elena, the last of a whole series of messages and voice mails, each sounding increasingly worried, asking if Bonnie was OK, why she rushed out of school the way she had earlier.

Alarmed, Bonnie typed a quick reply – 'K. Txt u l8r.'

Half a moment later, Elena's reply came: 'Call me NOW.'

With a sigh, Bonnie glanced over at Kai. He was still fast asleep, lying on his back with his face turned into his pillow. He looked peaceful, innocent, heartachingly young.

She bit her lip hard, dressed quickly and slipped out.

In the corridor, she dialed Elena.

"Bonnie?" Her friend sounded relieved.

"I said I was OK," Bonnie sighed.

"I needed to hear from you. Caroline said…"

Bonnie snorted. "Oh _Caroline said_ , did she? Is she there?"

"I'm right here!" Caroline yelled, her voice coming clearly through. Elena's phone must have been on speaker. "And I'll have you know-"

"Bonnie?"

Bonnie looked up, startled, at Zach Salvatore's disapproving face. Startled for more reasons than one. She had never once seen the man in the all while Kai had brought her here. Now he was watching her expectantly, clearly wanting to talk to her.

"Call you in a sec." She turned off her call and faced him. "Mr. Salvatore?"

"Bonnie," he started firmly, then paused. A distinctly uncomfortable look crossed his face and Bonnie felt a thump of apprehension, suddenly suspecting what this was about. "Bonnie," he said again, then cleared his throat. "You've been coming here a lot of late, haven't you?"

Yes, Bonnie knew exactly where this was going and she wasn't ready for it.

"I-I really have to… call my friend now, Mr. Salvatore." She waved her phone at him like a shield.

"Bonnie…"

"Be right back," she insisted. She'd have gone back into Kai's room, but he stood between the door and her so she spun on her heel and rushed down the corridor.

She didn't stop until she was outside the house and she stopped at the porch, half-expecting him to follow, but he didn't.

With a sigh, she walked down the steps and sat down heavily.

 _What are you doing, Bonnie?_ She asked herself. She might have avoided Mr. Salvatore now but it was only a matter of time before she faced him again. And if she didn't, he might talk to someone about it. Not Bonnie's dad, who was never around. But maybe Elena's mother – or worse, Caroline's mom.

Bonnie's heart thumped. She was a minor. If anyone found out about her and Kai, if _Sherriff Forbes_ found out about them – Kai could go be in serious trouble.

She tried to fight against the wave of panic. Kai was a literal magician – her head still reeled at their earlier conversation, but really was there any other explanation for this – who could travel long distances with his mind. Was there anyway mundane law enforcement could hurt him?

"Fancy meeting you here."

Bonnie started, her inward gaze flying upwards at the unexpected, vaguely familiar voice.

A vaguely familiar face gazed back at her – young, Asian-looking. It took Bonnie a moment to recognize the girl from the library.

"Hi," she said, uncertainly, trying to remember the girl's name.

"Hi, Bonnie," the girl said, sidling beside Bonnie on the steps. She sat a little too close for a complete stranger, her cold skin brushing slightly against hers.

Bonnie shifted away, uncomfortable, and the girl smiled easily.

"W-what… are you doing here?"

The girl's smile broadened. "I guess I could ask you the same question." She sidled even closer, her smile widening impossibly further as her teeth glinted in the moonlight.

* * *

A/N: Hi guys! Thanks a lot for the outpouring of support and encouragement on this story. I always appreciate it. I've just finished mid-terms and I'm free from deadlines and prep work for at least the next 10 days! So let me know in comments, what fic you'd like to see updated next. As you must have noticed, I have a lot of balls in the air. :D


	18. Grimoire

**Grimoire**

The moment her bare arm brushed Bonnie's, Bonnie felt it. Or more than felt it. It seemed to invade all her senses – the white of death, the smell of decay, the taste of iron, the screams of the damned.

She stood up so quickly, she almost lost her balance.

The girl stayed sitting, looking up at her, with shining, knowing eyes. "Are you OK?"

"Who are you?"

She tilted her head, looked mischievous. "Don't tell me you haven't figured it out yet."

Bonnie's breath caught in her teeth. "What do you want?"

"Your help."

The two simple words, uttered in an innocent sing-song lilt, belied an unspoken threat.

Bonnie spun quickly to the door…

… and the girl was by her side, her hand holding the door firmly shut. Bonnie tried to yank at it and it didn't budge. For someone so small, this girl was remarkably strong.

"Get away…" Bonnie started.

The girl shook her head, her face still smiling, her eyes still knowing.

"I was wrong. You weren't ready… but you will be. Soon. I have my eye on you, Bonnie Bennett."

And in a whisper, she was gone.

Bonnie yanked the door open, and rushed in, slamming it shut behind her and leaning hard against it. Her heart pounded with fear and confusion as she stared into the empty hall before her.

* * *

Whistling, Kai checked the contents of the tray for the last time – wine, glasses, three jumbo-sized sandwiches, and a single rose and he spun on his heel, tray in hand as he waltzed out of the kitchen. They had worked up an appetite and he was looking forward to the feast.

And the dessert that would follow afterwards.

But as he turned the corner to the corridor that led to his room, he realized that thoughts of going down on Bonnie would have to wait. For Zach Salvatore was hovering in front of Kai's room door, clearly up to no good because when he saw Kai, Zach jumped so high he almost touched the ceiling.

Kai tensed, his good mood dimming somewhat. Zach had been in the kitchen when Kai got there a while ago and he claimed he had some work to do around the house. He was more than used to Kai pottering about in the kitchen – either making one of his epic sandwiches, or cooking up a storm – and always welcomed it. He had even tentatively offered to hire Kai once.

Kai had laughed long and hard at that.

He wasn't laughing now.

What the fuck was Zach up to?

"Yo, Salvatore," he said casually, reaching the other man.

Zach nodded tightly. "Parker." He cleared his throat. "How are things with you?"

Kai didn't have time for this bull. "Want something? Because I think you knew where to find me and it wasn't in my room."

Zach winced, clearly uncomfortable with Kai's directness. Then he seemed to draw himself up, as if gathering courage. "I've been seeing Bonnie Bennett here a lot."

Kai's hands around the tray tightened. "I don't hear a question."

"She's barely sixteen."

"I still don't hear the question."

"What's going on here… it stops now. Not under my roof. Or anywhere else, as a matter of fact. I'll give you a head start to get out of town. Then I'm telling the Sherriff what you've been up to with that girl." At the end of it, Zach was breathing hard, his face shining with sweat. He was clearly not a man that enjoyed confrontations and a small part of Kai begrudgingly admired his courage.

And mocked his stupidity.

"You're throwing me out?" Kai asked, as casually as if he was asking Zach's opinion on the weather.

Zach swallowed. "Yes," he rasped.

Kai cocked his neck, shifted the weight of the tray on his hand. He reminded himself that the man had offered a head start. And how inconvenient it would be for Kai if a murder investigation were to start in Mystic Falls.

"I'll just drop this in my room and we can discuss this in your office, then."

* * *

The cool water calmed Bonnie down faster than she expected. The brief and strange encounter with the girl from the library seemed so melodramatic in retrospect. The girl was creepy, yes, and Bonnie had definitely felt _something_ weird when she touched her. But how much of it was really from the girl or from Kai's influence, his stories and his power? In the safety of his room, Bonnie couldn't understand why she had been so spooked.

Or should she be spooked at how easily she was acclimatizing to the dangerous and unusual?

Through the roar of the spray, she heard the door open and shut and her stomach tingled in anticipation for some company in the shower. But then it opened and shut again, and she knew that she was alone.

A bit miffed, she stepped into the room, with a towel wrapped around her slim frame, to an unexpected surprise – a tray of sandwiches, wine and a single rose. She picked up the rose and sniffed it, feeling a big smile spread across her face.

She was alone, so she fished her phone from her pile of clothes and checked it. Caroline was still in bitch mode and reminded Bonnie curtly about their matching outfits for the dance. Bonnie groaned. She had forgotten. Again. Her dress still hadn't arrived and she wasn't about to tell Caroline that and kick-start a spiral. Elena was her usual sweet self, asking if Bonnie was sure she was okay. She didn't even bring up her borrowed car. Her dad has also texted, saying he won't be coming home that weekend after all and he gave her blanket approval for overnights with her friends – which was redundant. She ignored her dad's message, sent Caroline an equally acerbic affirmation and replied Elena's affectionately, promising to get her car back to her that evening.

Then she poured herself a glass of wine and looked around the empty room.

She rarely had this space to herself. Kai was always around, hovering, demanding her attention. Feeling like a child who had wandered away from its parent in the supermarket – a little scared, but mostly curious – she decided to explore.

His things were spare. A few clothes hung in the wardrobe. A second pair of shoes. His wallet revealed a driver's license that gave his date of birth as 1972.

What in the world?

The only other thing of interest she found was an old book like something from a museum. It was clothbound and stuffed with gray parchment-like paper. She sat down on the bed with it and flipped it open. Thoughts of creepy maybe-monster girls faded into the far recesses of her mind.

Half an hour later, Kai came back to find her lying on her side poring through his father's Grimoire.

* * *

"This spell for long-distance message sure would save me a lot of phone bills."

Kai peered over at the page she was pointing at and grinned around his sandwich.

She turned to look at him.

"And you say that someday I will be able to do all this stuff?"

She still sounded incredulous even after everything he had told her – after everything she had seen with her own eyes.

It reminded Kai of something his father once told him – this was how mundanes coped with their existence in a world that was more supernatural than they wanted to admit. Constant denial.

"Someday you'll do _more_ ," he told her as he finished the last sandwich. He noticed that she barely touched her own, and helped himself to that as well. "You're going to be more powerful than any witch I know."

Bonnie laughed, and it was half-incredulous, half-wonder.

And because she made him so damn happy, he did something just for show – a stormcloud in the ceiling. She gasped, standing up on her knees in delight as the cloud broke, and a little shower broke over them. The rain was light, more cool than wet, and vanished the moment it touched their skin and the sheet.

Bonnie laughed, and threw her head back, her curls bouncing off her back. Her silky legs gleamed where the light reflected from the droplets on her skin and made his mouth water.

"Remind me again why I can't do magic now?" she asked, still staring with her large shining green eyes.

Her eagerness made him smile.

"It's all here, Bonnie," he tapped her wrist, felt her essence lying dormant under the surface of her silky skin. "It'll come out when you're ready and then you'll be unstoppable."

He turned off the cloud and watched her smile stay in place, half-wistful now. She lay back beside the Grimoire, and flipped through the pages frantically, as if she was now looking for a spell that would unlock her magic faster.

He also wished she could do magic now. He remembered the first time he felt her magic – when she literally tried to set him on fire – the way it pulled at him.

He hadn't been expecting that – that draw.

Then again, there was nothing about Bonnie Bennett that had gone according to plan.

Kai had gone from planning on how he could use this strange twist of fate that had brought him to this time to further his ambitions – to become the coven leader and to punish his family – to planning on how he could remain in Bonnie's life indefinitely.

He went back to pouring through the Praetor's Grimoire that he had 'borrowed' from his family home in Portland for any clues about the Travellers and how their magic work – and most importantly, how to harness their magic for his own peculiar circumstances. But it was a big book and most of his time was taken up with Bonnie – being with her, scheming to be with her, or thinking of her.

Kai watched her now; palm resting on her cheek, her curls half covering her face while so much bare skin showed under the shirt of his she was wearing.

He reached a hand and curled it around her knee. He felt her slight tremble, but she didn't raise her head from the book.

He smiled, pleased with the challenge. Deliberately and slowly, he slid his hand up her thigh. His smile widened as he heard her breath hitch and become increasingly shallow, until his hand was under her shirt – _his_ shirt, he corrected smugly. He slid his fingers right in and stifled back a groan at how wet she already was, and at her soft whimper, book completely forgotten now.

"I know some magic you can do right now," he whispered and she was giggling as she turned on her back and drew him in.

* * *

A/N: Hi guys! Sorry for the long gap in updates. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. We've reached our mid-way mark in this story so everything from now on is a count-down to the end. Please let me know if you're enjoying this story & like me to continue. :)


	19. The Dark Side of Magic

**The Dark Side of Magic**

"Caroline, I don't think Bonnie has to come to dance if she doesn't want to."

Bonnie threw Elena a grateful glance, while she studiously avoided Caroline's flinty gaze.

But all her blonde friend said was a mild, "fine."

Bonnie's hackles rose at once.

Elena smiled beatifically and left their lunch table to grab a drink. The moment she was out of earshot, Caroline leaned forward and glared at Bonnie. "You'll be there or I'll tell your Grams how you've been skipping school."

Bonnie glared back, furious. "What the hell, Care? I cover for you all the time."

"The difference is that I tell you what I'm really up to. Who I'm really doing," Caroline waggled her brows. "You're hiding this thing from everyone so you're either doing a total nerd or you're doing someone dangerous."

"I'm not _doing_ anyone!" Bonnie cried.

Caroline snorted. "Oh, please!"

"I'm not. Just because you can't last a week without sleeping with some guy doesn't mean the rest of us can't."

Bonnie regretted the words as soon as she said them. Caroline drew back, her breath coming out in a hiss.

"Care… Look…"

"Excuse me," Caroline whispered, grabbing her tray and walking off before Bonnie could even stand up.

The blonde brushed past Elena as the latter walked back to the table.

"What's going on?" Elena asked.

Bonnie bit her lip, drowning in her guilt.

"Bonnie…" Elena hesitated. Then she took a deep breath. "I know I'm usually the one to tell Caroline to back off but… you haven't been yourself lately. We're really worried about you. You know you can tell me anything, right?"

It was so transparent – the classic 'good cop/bad cop' act between her two friends. And yet…

For a moment, looking at her friend's large brown eyes, Bonnie felt the need to share, to tell her what was going on. She just needed to talk to someone.

"Is anything going on, Bon?"

"No, Elena," she whispered. "Everything's fine."

* * *

The three girls stepped into the gym like queens coming to court. Or, if Bonnie were to be honest, it was the one queen – Caroline, and her attendants Elena and Bonnie on either arm.

They even wore matching fairy outfits – poufy skirted gowns with flowers in their hair. The floating petals in the room were in the same colors the trio donned – blue for Elena, red for Bonnie and – of course – gold for Caroline.

Matt came to claim Elena, leaving Bonnie alone with Caroline, for the first time since lunch that afternoon. Awkward.

They'd been too busy getting ready in Elena's house to talk.

Also, Bonnie, as usual, had showed up late.

 _"_ _I have to go. To apologize to Caroline at least or she'll hate me for the whole summer."_

 _"_ _You say this like if I'm supposed to give a damn about your little friends."_

 _Bonnie turned away so that he won't see the tears that had suddenly filled her eyes. "Well, if they're little then so am I and they're important to me."_

 _"_ _I don't want you to go." His arms were suddenly around her, and he pulled her back so that his chest, and other harder parts of him were pressed firmly against her._

 _She felt her whole body flush and tried to wriggle out of his arms. She was half-surprised when he let her._

 _She tried facing him but his half-lidded gaze made her heartbeat uneven so she turned back to the books on her desk. "I'm going, Kai. Caroline is my friend. This is important to me." When he didn't say anything and the brooding silence increased between them, she added. "And I don't need her on my case, too. If she starts complaining about me, I don't know who'll end up hearing about it. My Dad. My Grams. We got lucky that she's out of town and didn't notice I was gone all this while. But if she hears about me skipping school…"_

 _"_ _I don't want you to," he said again but this time, his voice was sulky. He was caving._

 _She turned around and kissed him fiercely. His arms were around her at once, lifting her and drawing her near so that the tips of her toes were grazing his bare feet._

 _"_ _I need a little favor…"_

 _He laughed, incredulously. "Seriously?"_

 _Bonnie trailed her fingers down his jaw, then his throat, smiled as she felt his Adam's apple bob eagerly against her touch._

 _"_ _The dress I ordered never got here. It's part of a set. If I'm not wearing it at the dance…"_

 _"_ _That's all the more reason_ not _to go."_

 _"_ _Please." She pressed her mouth against his, a chaste open-mouthed kiss that still made his breath hitch and his grip on her tighten._

 _"_ _I'm not Rumpelstiltskin, Bonnie."_

 _She giggled against his lips and he smiled, reluctantly. "No, you're not. You're way better looking than him." She kissed him again._

 _"_ _Damn right."_

 _"_ _Better dressed." Another kiss._

 _"_ _Mmm… hmmm…"_

 _"_ _Better at sex."_

 _"_ _Now you're talking," he whispered and their mouths opened against each other hungrily. When they broke for air, he mumbled, "Wait a minute. How would you know…?"_

 _She laughed and laughed and laughed._

But an hour later, she had made it to Elena's with a beautiful dress that was exactly like the costume she and her friends had selected a lifetime ago from the internet, and finally here Bonnie was, giving Caroline a story about her Grams and her Dad that sounded stupid to her own ears.

She reached instinctively for her necklace as she stammered to a halt. She'd picked up the trinket at the last minute and worn it on impulse even though Care insisted it didn't go with her outfit. But it had seemed right somehow. For some reason, she hadn't worn it since that first weekend she got home and she felt guilty.

"Whatever Bonnie," Caroline said when she finished. "Just make sure when you're ready to spill, you tell me before Elena." She winked.

Taken aback at Caroline's quick acquiescence, Bonnie could only nod and watch Caroline flit off to the football team.

Bonnie was about to wander off to the drinks bar when a familiar face popped in front of her.

"Looking foxy, BB," Tyler crowed.

Bonnie grinned back, checking out his suit, and him in general. It felt like ages since they had talked. "You're not looking bad yourself."

"This monkey suit," he yanked at his thigh. "Can't wait to rip it off. Caretodance?" The question spilled out like one word, so fast that Bonnie almost didn't catch it.

Almost wished she hadn't caught it.

But why? She asked herself looking at Tyler's unusually nervous smile. It was just a dance. She wasn't doing anything wrong. She and Kai Parker were… well, Bonnie had no idea what they were. But she'd known Tyler since they were kids. It would be an innocent dance between friends. She pushed back the mental whisper that Kai might not agree.

She took his arm and they boogied it out. The music was great and Tyler was an excellent dancer. Together, they didn't miss a beat. Matt and Elena, then Caroline and her latest acquisition danced around them. Bonnie was having a ball in her magic dress.

 _I've missed this_ , she realized suddenly.

Running around, hiding around, missing or cutting short practice, skipping school, ditching her friends, no late night talks with Elena or text marathons with Caroline, sleepless nights, days she spent living in the boarding house, or otherwise mostly sleepwalking through the motions until Kai like some kind of demon snatched her away.

Kai Parker had entered her life and _claimed_ it. Bonnie had stopped being a kid whose biggest worries were grades and coordinating outfits.

Feeling suddenly overwrought, she stepped off the floor and started making her way out of the gym. She needed air.

She got out just in time, and held on to her side, bending over and trying to regulate her breathing that had suddenly seized.

"Bonnie?"

She looked up to see Tyler coming forward tentatively.

"Are you OK? You started looking upset and then you just left…"

"I'm fine," she managed to gasp. "Please don't tell…"

"The others didn't notice, only me. I won't tell them if you don't want to." He hovered. "Can I get you anything?"

"Some water please."

He left. He was back almost immediately with two bottles and by then, Bonnie was sitting with her back against the wall, breathing almost regularly.

She swallowed half a bottle in one gulp. Tyler sat down tentatively beside her.

"Do you get panic attacks often?" he asked.

"I-I guess this is my first one."

"I'm sorry. It was probably the music or the crowd?"

"I guess," Bonnie lied and looked into her palms.

He shifted closer, put his arm around her shoulder. "Hey, we can wait here for as long as you need…"

Bonnie felt the goose-bumps break over her bare arms a moment before he appeared at the end of the corridor.

She sprang away from Tyler as if she was as guilty as Kai obviously thought she was. But by then it was too late.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** I just wanted to add as a kind of disclaimer that the bulk of this story was written over a year ago, and I'm just posting them now with small changes made here and there to incorporate a C plot, while still trying to keep to my original (pun not intended) vision of the story. So any similarities with seasons 7 or 8 is just coincidence. _

_Thanks a lot for the feedback, guys! Please keep them coming. :D_


	20. The Prodigal Returns

**Return of the Prodigal**

 _"_ _You almost killed him!"_

"Almost being the operative word!"

Bonnie slammed her palms against his chest, shoving him. "What the hell, Kai? You _hurt_ him. You hurt _my friend_. With magic!"

"Would you have preferred it if I had just beaten him within an inch of his life. I healed him, didn't I? He'll live."

Tears filled her eyes as she stared into his cold, implacable face. "He didn't do anything wrong. He didn't deserve it."

Rage flashed in his eyes and she recoiled. He stepped forward, closing the gap between them, backing her to the wall.

"Let that be a lesson to _you_ then, Bonnie. I don't share my toys."

Her stomach churned with fury and fear. "Is that what I am to you? A toy?"

"What you are," Kai said, his voice silky and deadly like a steel blade inside velvet, "is _mine_. Remember that."

Bonnie lifted her chin. "You don't own me, Kai Parker."

His eyes narrowed at her and he leaned closer – and she almost hoped he would try to kiss her so that she could _for once_ shove him away and mean it. But instead his finger reached out and he pulled out her necklace.

His fingers trailed down the chain but when they touched the pendant, he paused, almost as if he was afraid to touch it.

"What the-" he whispered. Then he looked at her. "You weren't wearing this when you left the house, were you?"

"No," she answered truthfully, taken aback by his reaction.

Kai was never afraid of _anything_.

"I couldn't find you," he said quietly, almost as if he was talking to himself, "and now I know why." He touched the chain again. "Take it off."

Bonnie bristled at the curt order and clutched the necklace to herself. "No."

He glared at her. "Don't be difficult. That's a witch's talisman. You don't want to be wearing it."

Doubt filled her then, but she rebounded after a moment. Grams would never give her anything to hurt her. "I'm a witch, aren't I?" she retorted.

"Who hasn't come into her powers yet. Take it off."

"I'm not going to and you can't make me."

He stepped closer, menacingly. "Don't push me, Bonnie or-"

"Or what?" she snapped. "You'll spank me?" She licked her lips, and his eyes immediately went to her mouth as she whispered, "Fuck me?"

And it was so satisfying to see the blood rise in his face, all the way to the tips of his ears. He stepped closer, close enough that their hips were touching, her hardening nipples brushing against the soft cloth of his shirt.

"Bonnie," he groaned against her lips.

"I'm still mad at you," she said, fiercely.

More than mad. At that moment, she hated him.

But she hated herself, too as well.

The memory of what he did to Tyler – what Kai _almost_ did to a boy Bonnie had known from elementary school – was still fresh in her mind.

Yet she still she couldn't stop herself from wanting him.

"Haven't you heard of hate sex?" he whispered before covering her mouth with his own.

* * *

He took it off while she was sleeping, and flung it out of the window as far away as possible.

* * *

It was barely five a.m. but the breach of her wards shook Sheila Bennett out of her badly needed sleep. She made her way through her own boxes of unpacked luggage towards her front door.

She was shocked to the core to find her grand-daughter shutting the door behind her with her spare key.

"Bonnie? What are you doing…"

Bonnie jumped. "I thought you were out of town?" she asked, her eyes large and accusing.

"I just got back." Sheila peered hard at the girl, picking up on a variety of signs that she was too tired to read properly but generally spelt no good. "You came here, thinking I was gone? Are you skipping school again?"

"School's out today because of the game. I figured I'd come and tidy up for you. Water your plants," Bonnie said with blatantly false casualness, dropping her bag on the sofa. "Dad's meeting is running late. He won't be back for another week. I took the bus."

"Aren't you a cheerleader?"

Bonnie fidgeted. She had missed so much practice that Caroline asked her to sit this one out but what she told her grandmother was, "I couldn't find my game spirit for some reason. It's OK. I still keep my place on the squad. Being BFFs with the captains helps."

Sheila frowned.

"I'm really tired, Grams," Bonnie said quietly.

The poor child looked it – frail like a leaf that the smallest of winds would blow into the water. So without another word, Grams led her to the room reserved for her, and tucked her in. She noticed, with approval, that their ancestral necklace was firmly in place.

"You haven't been taking that off, have you?" she asked sternly.

A shadow fell over Bonnie's face but her answer was a soft, "no."

"Good."

She brushed her hand over Bonnie's hair and bent over to kiss her, and then she felt it – the other essence throbbing with magic in the room.

It was unmistakable.

It took everything inside the old woman not to fall to the floor of the room and scream. Instead, she gave her granddaughter a fierce, tight smile and walked out of the room with her dignity in tact and her heart in rends.

She got to her own room, and barely made to the bed before her knees gave in and she sank down, shaking with magic, fury and the sense of immense failure.

 _Oh child. How did I let this happen to you?_

 _How can I save you?_

* * *

A/N: Thanks a lot for the reviews! This is my only fannish outlet as I "go under" for exams so I really appreciate all the comments, feedback. :D


	21. Invisible Chains

**Invisible Chains**

Kai woke up late, and shifted instinctively for her and only felt cool, empty sheets. Grudgingly, he opened his eyes, already miffed because there was no way a day that started without Bonnie in his bed was going to be a good one. The urge to find her was overwhelming but she had been saying something about a game all week and after the debacle with Punkwood, he didn't want to tick her off again.

Even though she was delightful when she was angry. So delightful that he was getting hard just thinking about it.

So he reached for her mentally, just to have some idea of where she was and what she was up to. He even planned on making it to the game, just to finally see her in action. He was always interrupting her practice so he never really got a chance to see just how high those legs could kick-.

Kai's happy thoughts came to an abrupt end as he hit the equivalent of a mental brick wall. Built all the way around Bonnie's aura. He sprang to his feet at once.

The first time it had happened, he had panicked so much that he drove halfway across town like a mad man, first to the Gilberts' house and then to high school. The one thought in his head that followed him like a screeching bat was that the only thing that would so abruptly stifle a witch's aura was …

Well, Bonnie had been fine then. Alive and safe and cozying up to Jockwood! Kai remembered, too late, that he'd seen the douche checking her out once in a while when he, Kai, checked up on her in school.

Kai had already been hovering on the edge all day – first with having to give up Bonnie for the evening for her stupid school dance, then with the shock of losing every sense of her in the magical sphere – and that kid's arm rubbing against her silky skin had been the last straw.

He had almost killed the guy, only stopping when Bonnie's screams finally reached him. Kai had patched him up with magic, and sent him off but not before doing a memory erasing spell that took away even the conversation Tyler and Bonnie had in the corridor.

Afterwards, Bonnie had been mad. Then she had been glorious. And when she was sleeping, he had thrown away that pendant.

That was stupid. Of course, it was too easy just chucking it out the window. The magic of the talisman would have found its way back to the Bennett in the closest vicinity. Bonnie. And of course, she had worn it again. After he had told her not to. _Because_ he had told her not to.

He sent her a curt text and asked her to take it off. He gave her exactly ten minutes not to reply then he started dressing hastily, using magic to speed things up.

Well, she could kiss attending that game goodbye.

She wasn't going to be at the game. Kai had found Blondie and Doppel and hovered close to them, eavesdropping. After Blondie spent almost ten minutes talking about her planned vacation with her dad – while Kai seriously considered snapping her neck, timeline or no timeline – they finally got talking about Bonnie. Apparently, the two friends were worried about her. So naturally, Blondie had asked her not to cheer and Bonnie had agreed.

So where the hell was she and why had she lied to him?

She wasn't at home either. He even went to check on Tyler Prickwood but the guy was in the field, practicing with his fellow meatheads.

Kai felt himself getting tenser with every passing moment. The specter that had haunted him the first time he had reached for her and come up with a blank – flickered through his mind and he pushed it back furiously.

She was all right. She was a smart girl and she had probably figured out what the stupid necklace did. She had put it and gone to the library or something, to drive him nuts.

He checked the library. She wasn't there. He checked the church. She wasn't there. He checked out the homes of her friends – she wasn't in any of them.

He broke and tried calling her. It went straight into voicemail.

Could she be at her grandmother's? All the way to Whitmore? The idea of showing up on Sheila Bennett's door was enough to make him break out in hives.

But three hours spent looking for Bonnie and Kai was ready to do that.

And that was when her text came.

 _"_ _I'm at my Grams. Don't call or text me. I'm still mad."_

He threw his phone at the wall.

* * *

The three girls were supposed to spend two weeks upstate with Billy Forbes and his boyfriend. It had been arranged long ago and her father had even given his permission. Bonnie had completely forgotten, so imagine her surprise the day after the big game, when Caroline and Elena showed up with their suitcases piled in Caroline's car.

Bonnie fingered the chain that she hadn't taken off since, not even to shower, and tried to think of an excuse not to come.

"I just have stuff for the weekend here. All my things are at home in Mystic Falls. I'll have to go there and pack."

"You have plenty of stuff over here," Grams said appearing as if by magic – and maybe it was magic, Bonnie thought sourly – at the doorway. "And I can send anything you need."

"Squee!" Caroline and Elena said together, pumping their arms into the air and Bonnie couldn't say anything again after that.

Grams popped into the room while Caroline and Elena helped Bonnie pack – actually, Caroline and Elena did most of the packing while Bonnie sat at the dresser, staring at the phone in her hand worriedly.

"This will be a good chance for you to take a break from everything that's been bothering you of late," Grams said quietly. "Why don't you keep that off while you're on vacation?" She pointed her chin towards the phone. "Your Dad and I will know to reach you through Caroline."

Bonnie stared at Grams wordlessly, her brain racing as she wondered just how much the old woman knew.

 _"…_ _You're from one of the oldest and most powerful magical families in the world…"_

Grams gave her a small smile and she flittered out of the room.


	22. Bloodlines and Battlefields

**Bloodlines and Battle-lines**

Kai gave her the whole fucking weekend.

He almost kicked himself for throwing the necklace away. No doubt the talisman had found its way back to its owner. He should have incinerated it instead. He knew from the way he couldn't track her magically that she was wearing it again.

Well, she'd have to get back eventually. Summer had started but she didn't have any plans – she had told him as much –and he had looked forward to having her all to himself for weeks on end.

So he waited.

He cracked open the Praetor's Grimoire for the first time in ages. He could barely make out the words, without thinking of Bonnie in his shirt, her chin in her hand as she frowned over the book.

He sent her a message succinctly summarizing the torture session he planned for Tyler Jerkwood. The message bounced back. His call went straight to voicemail. He left his Jerkwood warning as a voicemail.

After the third day, he was almost going mad. He had given up trying to study. Everything faded away in importance – waiting for Jo to come back and do the merge, figuring out the boundaries of the Traveller's spell and if he could do the merge in this warped timeline… None of those things mattered more than getting Bonnie Bennett back. In his life. In his bed. In his arms. And never letting her go. He would get her back, then find a spell that would chain her to him for the rest of her maddening life, and maybe even beyond that.

He checked her last message to him again.

 _"_ _I'm at my Grams. Don't call or text me. I'm still mad."_

"The hell you are, Bonnie," Kai snapped, wishing she was in front of him so he could wring that pretty little neck. Screw Sheila Bennett. The old witch fazed him, but not enough for this. He was going to Whitmore and getting his Bonnie back.

* * *

Not for the first time, Bonnie found herself in front of a mirror, staring at the pendant.

After the dance, she had kept it on as an act of defiance to Kai but now, she couldn't bear to take it off. It felt like if there wasn't a time when she didn't have its weight hanging from her neck, just beneath her clothes.

And it made her feel…

Strong.

"Vain, much?" Caroline piped.

Bonnie laughed, turning away from the glass. "Have I thanked you again for this vacation?"

Considering their recent drama, Caroline's invitation had been unexpected but Bonnie had jumped on it. Sheila had been lurking around her apartment, her face as dark as a cloud and Bonnie felt like if she was living with a ticking bomb. She had half-expected her grandmother to protest her trip, and was surprised when Sheila had agreed – had even seemed _eager_ for Bonnie to go.

"I should be thanking you and Elena for coming along with me to see my Dad, and Steven and Alice this weekend. I thought it was going to be so awkward but it's been great, hasn't it?"

"The best. I haven't had this fun since…"

 _Since Kai Parker showed up in Mystic Falls and started… haunting me_.

"… a while."

Caroline smiled slyly. "Oh, really? Don't tell me you don't have fun with him?"

Shock filled her and Bonnie whirled at Caroline. "Who?" _Did she finally remember Kai…?_

Caroline smirked. "The mystery man that's got you all hot and bothered for almost a month now. The one that's got me covering for you all the time."

"Care…"

"Quit it, Bonnie, OK? Look, maybe I overreacted a bit with the stress of the dance and the cheer-"

"You mean the cheer you kicked me off?" Bonnie snipped, trying to sound angrier than she really felt. She just wanted to change the topic.

Caroline didn't fall for it. "I was doing you a favor. You would have embarrassed yourself and you know it." Her eyes twinkled. "And I got you some extra time with your stud."

Bonnie turned away from her friend's piercing gaze to the half-packed suitcase on her bed. "I don't know what you're talking about, Care. There's no stud or mystery man or whatever nickname you can think of."

"Bonnie Bennett, you terrible liar!"

"I am not!"

"You can feed Elena that line about spending time by yourself, or dinner with your grams, or whatever bullshit that enters your head on the spot, but not me, OK? Remember me, Caroline Forbes? You can't lie to me about sex, Bonnie! I invented sex."

Bonnie couldn't help laughing. "That's a stretch, even for you."

"Not when it's true," Caroline said, flipping her hair. "Come on, Bonnie! I've been begging you for weeks! Elena's not here so spill! You know all my sexcapades. I can't believe now that you're _finally_ having sex-"

"Caroline!"

"-you're keeping all the dirty details to yourself!"

"There's nothing to tell, Care."

Caroline sniffed. "Fine. Keep your secrets. I'll just have to pry them out of you."

Bonnie stiffened.

"Meanwhile, don't expect me to share any more sexcapades with you."

Bonnie snorted as her friend flounced out. Like that was ever going to happen. The one thing that Caroline probably did invent was the phrase, 'kiss and tell'.

But a few minutes later, Bonnie found the little phone she had buried at the bottom of her box and her good mood disappeared.

She had been sensible and turned it off the moment she left Whitmore. Through Caroline, she told her Dad that she had forgotten to pack her phone. Everyone who wanted to reach her knew she was with Caroline.

Everyone except one.

She swallowed against the sudden lump in her throat, her heart pounding, as she stared at the blank screen, heavy in her hand, her finger hovering over the ON button.

She bit her lip hard, hard enough to taste blood. _I'll just call him. Hear his voice. Hear him say… 'Bonnie' just once and I'll hang up, I promise. Please, I've been so good. It's been four days. I just need to hear him say my name. Just once. I promise._

The phone was shaking so badly in her hand she feared she'd really drop it and break it for good now.

And like she had done every-time this happened, she reached for her pendant.

Strength.

The shaking stopped. The urge to call… to reach out to him was still there. But it was bearable.

She pushed the phone back into her box.

She needed both hands to zip up the box, and she was almost shaking again by the time she was done. She clutched her pendant and fled the room.

* * *

"Hello, Sheila Bennett, right?"

Kai had wondered if she would recognize him. But she clearly didn't. She peering at him over her glasses with vague curiosity.

The guile approach then.

"I think I found something belonging to a Bonnie Bennett, your grand-daughter…" He forced himself to sound casual, to not catch his breath over her name, to let the desperation that had only increased in the past few days choke him. "Do you know where I can find her?"

"And what makes you think I'd let you anywhere my Bonnie, Malachai Parker?"

He tensed. Even though he had expected this possibility, had planned for it, her sneak reveal threw him. Magic rushed to his fists.

Sheila smiled thinly, her expression barely changing. "You think I don't know who you are?"

Kai flinched. "How long have you known?"

"Not long enough," Sheila hissed. "Or you'd never have gotten your filthy paws on my Bonnie. And I promise you, you're never getting anywhere near her again."

It was all he could do to restrain the roar of magic inside him. He clenched his fists. "Don't you-"

"Don't what? Protect my grandchild? She's a child. You are a monster."

"I was younger than that the first time someone called me that. The first time I heard you call me that."

Sheila scoffed. "And all you've done since then is prove everybody right, haven't you?"

"If I am really the monster you think I am, then you should know what happens to people that cross me."

"And you should know better than to cross _me_."

The wind was whipping around them. Storm clouds were gathering in the middle of a day that should have been clear and sunny. He didn't know who was causing it – but he suspected that between the two of them, he was the one with less control. He didn't care. His heart was pounding. The urge to wring the old woman's neck until she gave Bonnie to him was overwhelming.

"Where is she?" he hissed.

Sheila glared. "I should maim you for even touching her. Get off my property. Go back to Portland and stay the Hell away from Bonnie."

"I am not going anywhere without Bonnie."

The whip slashed him across the face before he had even sensed her draw power. He touched his cheek in shock and his fingers drew back wet and red.

He surged forward and her power struck at him again. This time, he was ready for it. Catching it with one palm and absorbing it.

"Get out!"

He wanted to hurt her, more badly than he'd wanted to hurt someone for a long time. For whatever she had done to keep Bonnie from him, to prevent him from even sensing her presence. And even before that – condemning him as a child, helping his father imprison him…

He raised his hand… felt her magic prepare to defend her… took her measure, knew it was a fair match…

But Bonnie's heart-shaped face floated in front of his eyes. He imagined the look on her face if – when – she found out he killed her grandmother.

His hand fell.

"This. is. not. over."

He turned on his heel, his long coat flapping in the wind as he walked down the street and disappeared into the darkness.

Sheila slammed her door and casted all her wards.

Then she got on the phone and dialled Caroline Forbes's number.

* * *

"Grams, ow!"

Her Grams had cut the vacation short, coming in person to fetch Bonnie from Bill Forbes's cabin.

Anger radiated from Sheila Bennett's every pore and Elena, Caroline and Stephen's daughter Alice had looked worriedly on as Bonnie hastily packed up her things and left, feeling extremely scared and guilty at the same time.

As Grams's car pulled out onto the road, she turned to give Bonnie a flinty-eyed look that seared right through her granddaughter.

"You are going to tell me everything you know about Malachai Parker."

Bonnie's heart fell all the way from her chest to the bottom of her shoes.

* * *

When they got to the rented apartment, Sheila sent her grand-daughter to one of the two bedrooms to think about her life and her choices and made a long-distance call.

"You need to be here right now."

"I have a presentation on Monday for the Horticultural Society of N. What could possibly be the reason for me to suddenly need to come to Virginia at such short notice?"

Sheila told her.

Abigail Bennett, like her mother before her, sat down heavily on her chair at the news.

"Abby? Abby are you still there?"

Abigail swallowed hard. "I'll be on the next flight."

* * *

The moment it occurred to him, Kai almost stabbed himself with magic. It was only the recollection that he couldn't self-resurrect in this reality – and that even if he could, he'd still be wasting precious time – that stopped him.

Why had he not wondered why both Caroline Forbes and Elena Gilbert were missing from the town at the same time? Why had he focused his search at Rudy Hopkins and the possibility that Bonnie had been flown to join him on the East Coast, and not that she was somewhere closer at hand?

Once he had, he moved fast. A visit to Liz Forbes that she would never remember, and Kai had got an address. He ported as near as he could, then tore his way up the country side.

He found them – the two men, three girls – and his heart had beat fast until he realized the third girl was someone he didn't know at all.

After a few minutes of tiresome conversation with them where he abandoned finesse and used his magic to tear through their skulls – Kai got his answer.

He barely made it out of that place without killing someone. It was only the thought of Bonnie's face if he had touched one of her 'precious' little friends that spared Caroline Forbes's and Elena Gilbert's lives.

She was gone.

Sheila Bennett had beat him to it.

* * *

When Bonnie woke up the next morning, it was to the smell of incense burning. She found the source on the kitchen stove, and found something even more shocking.

Her mother.

The last time Bonnie saw Abby Bennett was years ago. Now she gaped speechlessly at her. Sheila appeared from behind her daughter's shoulder and asked all three to sit down. They did, Bonnie and Abby eyeing each other warily. No explanation was given, nothing beyond a cursory exchange of hellos like the virtual strangers they were.

Sheila made them all finish breakfast first.

Then she made Bonnie pack her things again – she had barely unpacked anyway – pile her suitcase into Sheila's trunk – which was now filled with two suitcases and bundled her into the car. When Bonnie managed to rise above her general guilt and 'I'm-in-big-trouble'-ness to ask what was going on, Sheila would just hush her while Abby would look pained.

It wasn't until the car was on the road, and they were heading towards the rising sun and Whitmore, Abby at the wheel and Sheila at the back with Bonnie, that they told her that she was pregnant.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** DUN DUN DUN DUN! TBC! Thanks for the feedback. :D_


	23. Oath

**Oath**

Bonnie sat at her grandmother's kitchen table, her hands covering her face as her mother and grandmother interrogated her.

"When did you first meet him?"

"Did you consent to this?"

"Where does he stay?"

"Did he use magic on you?"

"You told none of your friends? Not one?"

"Did you consent to any of the things he did to you?"

"When did you last see your period?"

"He's the reason you kept skipping classes, isn't he?"

"Did you consent, Bonnie?"

"Where is he?"

"Who else knows about you and Kai?"

 _"_ _Did you consent?"_

The girl just kept crying, her hands pressed into her eyes.

Abby bent down and shook her. "Tell us, who else knows?"

Bonnie just cried harder.

Sheila yanked her daughter back. "Don't you dare touch her."

Abby threw up her hands. "We don't have time to coddle her."

Sheila gave her a withering glare. "Unlike all the times before that you had for her?"

"Of course, you blame me for this! Like you blame me for everything else. You're forgetting that this happened under your watch."

"I am not having this conversation with you, Abigail Bennett," Sheila snapped.

Abby glared at both of them. "I need a drink." She stormed out.

Sheila scowled at her daughter's retreating back. Then she knelt down so that she could look the crying, sitting girl in the eye.

"Child, you need to tell us who else knows about this."

Bonnie moaned. "No one, I promise."

"Caroline? Elena?"

Bonnie shook her head both times. "Caroline met him once. But I think he did something to her to make her forget."

"Good. Good." Sheila said, perversely thinking that the snake had actually done one thing in their favor. "And now your friends know that you're with me but they have no idea where we are. He can scorch the earth for centuries and he'll never find you as long as you wear that necklace."

Bonnie flinched.

It was barely a motion but Sheila saw it and pounced on it.

"What is it?"

"N-nothing."

"Stop lying! What are you hiding, Bonnie? Did you take off your necklace?"

"No! I swear!"

"So what are you hiding? What did you…" And Sheila froze as the thought hit her. "You called him, didn't you?" Abby had suggested taking the girl's phone but Sheila had refused. Bonnie had promised.

"You promised not to call him."

Bonnie was silent.

"You told him where you were? Told him you were-?"

Bonnie shuddered. "No-o."

Sheila caught the hesitation. "Bonnie…!" she yelled.

"I didn't!" Bonnie cried. "I haven't spoken to him since before I left to Caroline's dad's. I swear!"

"But you called him? Did you leave any messages?"

The girl cried harder. Then nodded.

Sheila clenched her fists so she won't have to grab her grand-daughter by the shoulders and shake some badly needed sense into the child.

"How could you!"

"I promise I didn't tell him anything!" Bonnie wailed. "I didn't tell him where we are, or what was going on. I just said… We had something important to talk about. I didn't say anything more."

"When? We've been with you the whole time…?"

"When we stopped for gas just before we got here. When I went to use the bathroom. I called him then."

"Oh my goodness, child!" Sheila shouted, losing it despite herself. "Why would you even… Do you have any idea how bad things are right now for you?"

"I need-ed to see him. Just once. He's not a bad person, Grams. You don't know him like I-"

"You'll be surprised at what I know about Malachai Parker," Sheila said grimly. "You have no idea who or what…" She sighed as she stared down at her granddaughter's miserable little form. It wasn't the child's fault. It was hers. She had shielded Bonnie from the truth of who she was, what they were… and left her exposed to just about anyone who knew what she was and what she could be used for. A young, untrained, Bennett witch – a Bennett on both sides, a lineage that went back millennia. In hindsight, keeping Bonnie innocent of her heritage for as long as she had was the most stupid decision Sheila had ever made.

But it was too late for that now. The Gemini serpent had wormed his way into her granddaughter's life in more ways than one. Sheila was going to fix this. And then make sure it never happened again.

"Bonnie, look at me."

Bonnie flinched, but she still lifted her tear-streaked face. Even now, she was brave.

Sheila leaned forward and hugged her. "I'll make this all right, I promise."

Something flashed in Bonnie's eyes. "I told Abby that I don't want to. I'm not going to-"

Sheila had been afraid of this. They had had this conversation the instant Bonnie had been told she was expecting. Sheila had told herself that with a little time the girl would have second thoughts. But even then, she knew it was wishful thinking. Her granddaughter was just as stubborn as she was.

Still, Sheila groaned silently. "OK, you think that now. There's still time to make a decision but Bonnie…"

"I said no!" Bonnie yelled. "It's mine! I'm not getting rid of it!"

"OK! OK!" Sheila raised her hands, placed them on the girl's shaking shoulders. "OK. Whatever you decide, it's your choice. I'll help you. Abby will help you."

Bonnie laughed, bitterly, at that last part.

"Abby will help you," Sheila repeated, firmly. "But everything else, you do it my way. Everything else."

"You promise?" Bonnie asked, warily.

"Yes. But you have to keep your part of the bargain," Sheila said sternly. "You have to do exactly what I say in everything else."

Bonnie shifted. "What does that mean?"

"You'll find out in time."

"You're not going to let me see him again, are you?"

Sheila bit her lip to hold back scathing words. "Bonnie, right now, we need to trust each other. I think having this child is a bad idea. But-" she said, raising her voice as Bonnie tried to speak –"I'm going to trust that you know what's best for you and I'm going to help you. I'll take care of you – of both of you. I promise you that. But _you_ are going to have to trust me and your mother with everything _else_. And trust me when I say that having Malachai Parker in your life in anyway is the worst thing you can ever do right now. Right ever."

Bonnie stopped crying so suddenly that Sheila stared in confusion. Her granddaughter was training accusing eyes at her. When she spoke, her voice was frosty.

"Why did you lock my powers?"

Sheila frowned. "I already explained this to you. Now is not the time…"

"How can you ask me to trust you when you hid something so big, so important about myself from me?"

"Trust that I know what's best for my granddaughter. Trust that I've been a witch for a very long time and when I tell you that I did it to protect you, I'm telling you the truth."

Bonnie looked down at her hands, but not before Sheila saw the flash of mutiny in her face.

"You _have_ to trust me, Bonnie. If you want any chance to survive this with your child, you don't have a choice."

Bonnie nodded, her head still bowed.

This time, Sheila did shake her. "Did you hear what I said, Bonnie? Are you ready to do this? Are you ready to trust me?"

"Yes," Bonnie gritted out.

"No, child, you need to look at me and say the words."

Bonnie looked up, her chin raised with a blank expression on her face. "I'll trust you."

"You promise this?"

"I promise."

Sheila heaved a sigh. Then she got to her feet. "You won't regret this, child."

Bonnie was silent.

Sheila found Abby in her study downing what looked like her third glass, if the level in the decanter was any indication.

"Pour that away. We have work to do."

* * *

Her mother and grandmother were planning something.

Something a little bit beyond how to manage an unplanned teenage pregnancy.

They moved around a lot after Bonnie gave her oath to her grandmother. Every few days, they were packing up their things and moving to a new place – a nondescript motel, a classy hotel suite, a holiday cabin, a rented apartment… Bonnie had seen the inside of more temporary accommodation in two weeks than she had seen the entirety of her life before.

She went through the motions, going along with them. The reality of her pregnancy was still something she grappled with. She didn't look pregnant – her waist, whittled from cheerleading and dancing was still as tiny as ever. She didn't feel pregnant – she occasionally got a little sick in the mornings, but it could be as much due to stress as anything.

Bonnie had turned down first Abby's, then Sheila's 'ideas' about what to do with the pregnancy. Did she even want the pregnancy? Despite her protests to Abby and Sheila, Bonnie didn't know. All she knew was that the only people who should make that decision were her and Kai. All she knew was that she wanted Kai.

No, not wanted.

She _needed_ him with a desperation, a longing that hurt. She didn't even want to think about what he was going through now. How he was probably going crazy without her.

The worst of it was that there was no one to talk to. Now, she would eagerly have spilled everything to Caroline if her friend was within calling distance – she wasn't, Bonnie had lost all phone privileges – which was the height of irony after a month of secrets.

Talking about Kai to either Abby or Grams was out of the question. Grams would look stern, her brows furrowing until Bonnie fell silent. Abby would pick up the nearest sharp object and stab something close by. Bonnie didn't need to ask who Abby wished she was rather stabbing.

She wanted Kai and if her guardians (more like wardens) had their way, she was never going to get him back.

Finally, there was a break in her bleak existence. One day, while they were camping in a cabin – coincidentally not too far from Bill Forbes's holiday house – two strangers knocked on the door.

The moment they stepped into the house, Bonnie, sitting at the steps with a clear view of the front door, knew who – or rather what – they were at once.

Witches.

They didn't look anything like the witches from the Harry Potter books. No black cloaks, no stick wands. Certainly no broomsticks – unless the beat-up van in front was one in disguise. But there was something about their presence, the way they walked, the way their hands moved that reminded her of Kai.

Also, one had shut the door behind him by flicking his wrist.

Sheila had let them in and was now leading them to the parlour. Abby hurried down the steps, passing Bonnie.

"Go to your room," she said sternly.

Bonnie glared at her.

She didn't care what kind of trouble she was in. But Abigail Bennett waltzing into her life and daring to act like an outraged mother was beyond the pale.

"Bonnie," Abby said, her eyes narrowing. "I said-"

Suddenly Sheila was before them, appearing so quickly that Bonnie wandered if her grandmother flew. From the corner of her eye, she saw that their guests were still hovering by the parlor door. And now two pairs of eyes were watching her curiously. Bonnie turned her head to stare back. They were two men, roughly around the age of her grandmother and mother.

The older man… Bonnie's breath caught. It wasn't just the way he moved, or flicked his hands. His face… he looked… he reminded her of…

Then Sheila moved deliberately, and her body blocked the strangers from Bonnie's view.

"Bonnie," she said sternly. "You can't be seen. These guests are…"

"I know they're witches," Bonnie retorted.

Abby and Sheila exchanged glances. "Not every witch is a friend, Bonnie. Trust me on this."

There was that word again.

 _Trust._

Bonnie gave a thin smile and flounced to her room.

These two women had lied to her all her life and now they expected her to trust them.

They had another think coming.

* * *

A/N: Still recovering from that last bombshell, huh? :D Hold onto your hats because there's more coming. Thanks for the feedback and keep them coming. :D


	24. Flight

**Flight**

The atmosphere in the kitchen was thick with magical tension as the two parties faced off across the table. Two generations of Bennetts on one side. The Gemini Praetor and his councilman on the other.

"Your daughter has grown, Abigail," Joshua Parker, Praetor, remarked. "Yet I sense no powers from her? Did she take after the mundane, then?"

"Leave her out of this. We're here to discuss your child. Malachai. Have you got a lead on him, yet?"

The other wizard, Marshall from the Gemini council spoke up. "He's moving too fast for us to pin him down longer than a few hours. If he is carrying out a plan of action, we cannot decipher it. He could also be travelling randomly, keeping us on our toes to shake us off."

"As long as you keep duplicating that vial of blood, you should be able to track him indefinitely," Abby reassured them.

"Yes, the vial. Interesting how you got that," Joshua declared.

The two Bennetts stared at him wordlessly.

Marshall glanced warily at the two parties, then cleared his throat. "As the Praetor and I discussed on our way here, the best chance is to find out where Jo is, and keep a close eye on her."

"Kai wants to merge and become leader," Joshua added. "It's his one ambition. He's bound to get to her sooner rather than later." He looked hard at Sheila when he said this.

Sheila matched his stare. "Drop this useless point of questioning. I cannot help you find Jo."

"Can't or won't?"

Sheila stood up abruptly. "I grow weary of these spars, Joshua. If we cannot trust each other enough to work together…"

"Mother," Abby said, imploringly.

But Joshua had already lifted his hands in defeat. "Apologies, Mage Bennett. I over-stepped. You are already helping us in so many ways."

Sheila nodded, a wordless acceptance of his apology.

Marshall cleared his throat again. "So…. Are we ready?"

Joshua reached into his pocket and took out the cuboid-shaped device, with the circles of complicated, interlocking gears, and the engravings of entrapment etched along its grooves.

The Ascendant.

He handed it over to Abby Bennett; then the two of them stepped out from the table to stand a meter or so from the others, just in the path of a patch of light bursting through the window.

"Ready?" Abby asked.

Joshua nodded, and placing his hands under the other witch's, he started chanting.

* * *

She couldn't hear a word of what they were saying.

This cabin was practically identical to Bill Forbes's and Bonnie knew that there was a particular spot on the corridor upstairs where if you stood, you could hear perfectly every word that was being spoken in the kitchen. Something to do with the vents, according to Jeremy. He, his sister and Bonnie had discovered it to their delight one hot week a few Summers ago when the three families had gone on holiday together.

That was where Bonnie stood now, listening hard at the conversation going on. But she could not make out a single word. She could hear the voices distinctly. But they may as well have been speaking another language. Or absolute gibberish.

More magic, she thought, furiously.

Just as she was about to give up, she felt something like a shiver pass through the air. Suddenly she could hear everything.

"We'll keep in touch, Sheila." One of the stranger's, obviously. His voice was weirdly familiar. "Let us know if you hear anything and we'll…"

"The only thing I need to know is that you've handled Malachai." It was her Grams's alright but she spoke with a sternness and an authority that Bonnie had never quite heard from her before. Not even those times when Bonnie had sat in during Sheila Bennett's lectures. "I won't have him near my family again. I won't stand for it."

"You have my word. He will be killed the moment he is captured."

Bonnie staggered, her hands only just covering the little scream that was about to burst out of her mouth in time.

"If you don't do it, then I will."

She staggered again, unable to recognize that cold, bloodless voice as her grandmother's. The voices were fading, as they passed out of the kitchen and probably out the house.

But Bonnie had heard enough. Swallowing the bile that had risen in her throat, she ran back to her room.

* * *

She had to wait until nightfall. It was the longest five hours of her life.

She had supper with them. She said her prayers with them. She went to bed like a dutiful little pregnant girl.

She waited until there wasn't a single sound in the house, and slipped out of her bed on padded feet.

The keys to her grandmother's car and the house keys were side by side on the top of the fridge. As she took them, she unfurled Emmanuelle's necklace from her throat, wrapping the chain around the pendant and dropping it into her pocket.

* * *

Bonnie had been gone for almost two weeks. After the dead end at the Forbes's holiday cabin, he had scoured through Mystic Falls, Whitmore, and was cutting a path through the entire state of Virginia for her. And kept coming up empty.

Whatever shield the Bennett necklace placed over Bonnie, it looked like her grandmother had done the same on herself. A hunch had sent him tracking down Abby Bennett but he had been too late there, as well.

And now, Kai was running mad.

He felt like a ravenous animal that had been trapped in a cage and left to starve. Only his cage was the whole world and the outside was the wall of anti-magical void that surrounded Bonnie and kept her from him. He was starved of her aura, of her essence, of _her_ …

And he didn't know how much longer he could survive it.

He kept returning to Mystic Falls and Whitmore, porting like crazy from his latest dead end to her father's house and her grandmother's campus flat and back again to the search. He had no care for shoring up reserves of magical battery. Running dry was the least of his concerns, about the same level as Jo's return, and the Praetorship. All he cared for, all he wanted now, was finding Bonnie, grabbing her and never, ever letting her go.

He was half-asleep over his mug of beer in a dinky diner in a border town when his phone buzzed. He picked it up and glared at the message.

His contact in Portland had some news about Gemini business. Kai didn't bother calling back. If it wasn't about Bonnie, it wasn't important.

He rubbed his eyes tiredly and bit back a bitter sigh. "Oh, Bonnie, where are you?" he whispered under his breath. "Come back to me." He swallowed. "Please."

And just like that, like an answered prayer, she did.

He went from his slouching position to sitting upright, his spine as straight as if a bolt of lightning had struck to him. And that's how he felt – electrified, every cell in his body awake.

He could feel her, her aura calling to him like a klaxon. She had taken off the damn necklace and he could find her.

He didn't even bother leaving the diner for privacy. He ported right there and then to Whitmore.

* * *

Bonnie had driven the two hours from Whitmore to Mystic Falls. She could barely believe it herself. A month ago, she couldn't drive down her driveway. But she had no space in her head to marvel at herself, not when Kai's life was on the line.

Trust.

They had spoken to her about trust while they plotted to kill the father of her child.

Bonnie didn't expect to find him at the Salvatore boarding house. But she could leave a message with Zach Salvatore and maybe, there was a chance, he would come back for it.

She had to warn him to stay away. Because she knew he would come for her. He wouldn't stop until he found her – or they killed him.

It was raining when she drove up to the boarding house and she was soaked by the time she reached the door and pounded on it, her knocks in time with her beating heart.

Zach Salvatore opened it, a look of shock on his face.

"Can I help you, Miss?"

She stared at him. "It's me, Mr. Salvatore. Bonnie Bennett!"

"Am I supposed to know you…"

Kai and his mind-wiping, she thought with dark amusement and ducked under his arm and into the boarding house.

He followed her, looking uncertain.

"Do you want a room?" He seemed confused. No doubt a side-effect on whatever spell Kai had inflicted on him.

"I want to leave a message for one of your guests… Kai Parker?"

"I don't know anyone of that name…"

"It doesn't matter," Bonnie said hastily, and she almost slapped herself at the realization of her own stupidity. "Just… give me your phone. I need to send a message to someone."

All this while. Two hours from Whitmore to Mystic Falls when she could have just stopped at any pay phone and called.

Zach brought out his cell still looking completely at sea. He waved it in her general direction.

"I suppose if it's an emergency…"

Bonnie grabbed it, started punching numbers. She knew Kai's by heart.

"It's a matter of life and death," she said desperately. "Kai's. I need to warn him. They're planning to kill him."

"I'm afraid I still have no idea who this Kai Parker is…"

"He's right, you know. You should have said Malachai. That's the name on my driver's license."

Bonnie and Zach whirled around.

Kai was standing in the open doorway, looking… pretty much exactly the way he looked he first time she had ever seen him. Jeans, black jacket. Wet.

"Hi"

* * *

 _ **A/N: Happy New Year!**_


	25. The Trap

**The Trap**

"Bonnie's gone," Abby declared.

Sheila nodded. "So she fell for it." She watched her daughter's face. "That's what we wanted. For her to draw him out."

"I know."

"So why are you so angry?"

"I'm not angry. I'm frightened."

"Of what?" Sheila asked although she already knew.

"Malachai has got his hooks so deep into her. I don't know how we'll pry them out without cutting her, too."

* * *

"Hi."

At the sight, a flame lit at the top of Bonnie's head, burnt through her eyes and all the way to the soles of her feet.

She didn't remember moving but somehow, she had launched herself into his arms, her own limbs wrapped around him tightly as she planted kisses all over his face.

* * *

Kai had followed her trail from Whitmore to Mystic Falls, chasing her essence with magic and then with practicality – hot-wiring a car as it soon became clear that she was in a vehicle.

What he hadn't expected was that she was the one that was driving. Or that she was coming to _him_. To warn him.

To save him.

The two weeks had been torture. Wanting her. Aching for her. And being plagued by the demons that whispered in his head that they would turn her away from him. They would poison her mind and her heart against him. Use words like Stockholm Syndrome and probably worse and the next time – if ever – he saw her again, she would hate him even more than she did in his old life. His former life.

Now, he stood in the doorway of the Salvatore house, cold rain splashing against his back while the warmth of Bonnie's body and aura burnt his front and he felt his heart grow so light that it was a wonder that he wasn't floating, and taking her with him.

Her scent. The feel of her skin. Her voice in his ear.

Bonnie. Bonnie. Bonnie.

She was mumbling something in between frantic kisses that she was placing all over his face, her lips pressing like butterflies on him, and he had to hold her face with his hands to make out her words.

"You can't stay here," she finally said and she actually tried to pull away which was ridiculous because he meant it when he said he was never letting her go. "They're coming for you."

"Who?" he asked.

"My grandmother. Some man named Joshua. My mother really _hates_ you. I think she wants to _kill_ you."

Joshua.

His father was here. His father had found him.

Kai nearly staggered. But then, his grip on her tightened. Mid-sentence, he ported, taking her with him. The last thing he saw of the Salvatore's foyer was Zach's stupefied face.

They landed in his abandoned room upstairs.

She gasped, letting her legs fall and slapping her hands on his chest. "Warn me next time. That was so rude."

"I like taking your breath away," he murmured, his forehead resting against her own.

Bonnie. He could hardly believe it.

Her cheeks went rosy. "Well, don't. Besides I don't think it's safe for-"

She bit her lip, her breath catching.

"What is it?" he asked, at once.

"Nothing. Kai, you have to go quickly. They are looking for you and I think they will find you soon."

"Not if I have anything to do about it," he vowed. His grip on her tightened. "You're coming with me this time, Bonnie."

Her eyes widened. "No. Kai, I c-can't…"

"You can come with me," he said with steel in his voice. "Or we can stay here together and you can watch me die."

Her eyes fluttered shut. After a moment, she whispered under her breath. "Bastard."

That was good enough for him. He let her go – reluctantly – to dive into the wardrobe and gathered the Grimoires and Jo's knife. He put the latter carefully in a scabbard and tucked that inside his jacket.

"Let's go." He reached for her, and for the first time, he took a good look at her outfit. "What are you wearing?" he asked, laughing for the first time in weeks.

Bonnie stared down at her Minnie Mouse print pajamas, then blushed harder even as she lifted her chin up defiantly. "I was in a hurry, OK? To save you."

He smiled, and drew her closer. "How can I ever thank you…" His eyes drifted to her lips.

She licked them, instinctively and he felt the blood rush to his head.

But – and it almost killed him – he couldn't kiss her. Not here. Not now. Because it would start as a kiss but it won't stop there. It won't stop until she was writhing on the bed underneath him, her ridiculous pajamas in shreds on the floor as they set each other on fire.

So. No. That would have to wait.

He shook his head slightly and she sighed, pouting which made him laugh for the second time.

Then he gathered her up, stretching out his magic to transport them…

…and that was when the Gemini coven struck.

* * *

A/N: dundundundundun

Dedicated to **JustStockton**. :D


	26. Captured

**Captured**

They popped out of thin air – twelve witches, power thrumming out of their hands and the combined blast knocked Bonnie and Kai apart. Magic crashed into the room like a waterfall crashing against rocks.

She fell backwards into a pair of arms that gripped her like a vice; snapping her arms to her side as she struggled to get free, frantic with shock and fear. Kai was still on the ground, struggling to his feet but another blast knocked him against the wall.

His hands shot out, and six witches fell to the ground, holding their heads in pain. Three more rushed forward and they too seemed to hit an invisible barrier that sent them crashing to their knees. Bonnie could feel his anger – causing goosebumps to break out over her skin.

Kai stood up slowly, his hands out.

"Let her go, and I'll spare your lives," he said and his voice was cold, menacing. It sent a shiver down Bonnie's spine.

The arms around her tightened.

Kai's eyes narrowed and his fingers starting curling in a slow, tight circle.

Then a tall, large figure stepped in the middle of the fray. Bonnie recognized him at once. It was the man called Joshua that had visited Sheila and Abby that day.

Joshua said one word in a language that Bonnie couldn't understand.

And Kai shuddered, his arms still stretched out but just barely. She could see the strain on his face, feel his magic throbbing furiously against the new threat who was advancing towards him, still chanting.

"Kai!" Bonnie shouted, fear beating against her throat.

Then his arms came down and he fell to his hands and knees, with a shout.

When he opened his mouth, a fountain of blood poured out.

"Kai!" Bonnie shouted again, struggling harder. She kicked against her restrainer and with a muffled oath, he immobilized her so she couldn't move. But it couldn't immobilize her mouth, and stop her from screaming; nor could it immobilize her heart, pounding painfully in her chest as she watched the scene before her unfold.

"Please stop it. Please."

The tall witch was still advancing on Kai, still chanting. The nine on the floor had slowly picked themselves up and now they joined him. Kai's body flipped violently, from all fours to his back. He was sweating; his face was drenched and it had soaked through his shirt; even more, she could _feel_ him struggling against the magic that had gripped him like a tightening noose. Bonnie could practically feel it on her throat, strangling her.

She could feel when he broke and started convulsing.

"Kai!" She didn't even know when the tears had started pouring down her cheeks until she realized she could barely see the figure shaking on the floor.

"B-Bonnie," he managed and she whimpered in reply. His words were strangled as if the very fact of speech hurt him. "I-I'm sorry."

"Please. You're hurting him!" She stared beseechingly at the circle of witches that surrounded Kai, binding him.

She could feel the magic as it crashed against him – crashed against her and her skin felt thin, bruised, leaking…

"Stop," she whispered, feeling faint. "Please stop…"

"It's over, Malachai," the tall man said. "You should have stayed away while you had the chance."

Fresh tears filled Bonnie's eyes. _She_ was why Kai hadn't stayed away. She had done this. She had drawn him out.

The chanting changed in tempo, became even more sinister, if that was possible and Kai's body arced off the floor as he let out a blood-curling scream. Bonnie felt that scream echo in every single bone of her body.

She snapped.

" _LET HIM GO_!" She roared and her world exploded in a haze of red.

Fear and fury tore out of her like a storm, flattening everything in its path, flinging the attackers into walls or smashing them to the ground as the sound of bones breaking filled the air. She didn't even know when her captor had released her, but when her vision cleared, she was the only one left standing in that room.

A pile of bodies littered the ground, and Kai lay silent before her.

She rushed to him, falling to her knees beside him with a low cry.

He was unconscious but not… worse, she realized when she grabbed his wrist and felt his pulse. Instinctively, without thinking, she _pushed_ against him where her hand gripped his wrist and his body jerked, then his eyes flew open.

A look of confusion filled his face. "Bonnie?"

She cried and hurled herself into his arms, wrapping her own around him fiercely.

He moaned and she shifted back, conscious of his injuries. "Sorry, I…"

"Did you do this?" he asked, his voice filled with awe and that was when she turned to see her handwork. The bodies lying prone and twisted around her.

Bile rose up in her throat and she moved back further, a low keening moan rising inside her. _No… No._

He seemed to sense her fear and he scooted after her. "Shh… It's OK. Bonnie, it's OK," he said earnestly, reaching for her and wrapping her into his arms. She was shivering now and he embraced her, even as he flinched from his own pain. He pulled back and looked at her face. "You knocked them out, that's all. They're fine, OK. You're not…" He laughed a little and his face broke out in a smile. His eyes were shining as he brushed the damp hair that was stuck to her skin and cupped her cheeks tenderly. "You saved me." His mouth found hers then, and his kiss was fierce, yet tender in a way that it had never been before. She was still half in shock, but she returned it, her mouth responding to his automatically.

He broke off, and pulled her back into an even fiercer embrace. " _You saved me_ ," he whispered.

Her arms wrapped around his shoulders, and she held onto just as fiercely, feeling her heartbeat start to slow as his words sank into her.

"Come on," he whispered and in the next breath, they had left the room and its occupants behind.

* * *

 **A/N** : ...and they lived happily ever after...

PSYCH!

(LOL! But for real, won't this be a lovely place to end the story?)


	27. Fugitives

**Fugitives**

When Bonnie woke, she was alone, and staring at a set of strange, flowery patterned curtains.

She stirred, and quickly gleaned – from her recent travels with her mother and grandmother – that she was in a motel room. Before she could wonder where Kai was, he was walking through the door, bags of donuts and coffee in his arms.

"Hey," he said softly and a smile, wider and more open than she had ever seen on him, threatened to split his face.

"Hi," she replied, suddenly feeling shy. She sat up slowly and he was at her side in a moment.

"Are you alright?" he asked, sitting beside her.

"I'm…" She took measure, and then she grinned broadly. "I feel amazing. Kai, what happened?"

He laughed softly. "You unlocked your magic."

There was no arguing that. She could feel the zing of strange and yet familiar power, humming under her skin; and there was a warmth running through her now that she had never felt before. But… "How?"

He was still smiling, so hard that it looked like if it hurt. "You unlocked it to save me."

Blood rushed through her face and she looked away.

But he tipped her chin back so that he could bore into her eyes. "No one's ever done that for me before, Bonnie."

She almost couldn't bare his gaze, it was so intense and she bit her lip. His eyes darkened immediately.

"I'm hungry," she said weakly.

His eyes darkened further. "So am I." He leaned closer, close enough for his breath to fan over her face and she felt her eyes fall short as she met him half-way.

Then something that rattled landed on her lap and she opened her eyes to stare down at the breakfast tray.

She looked up at him in surprise.

"You did say you were hungry," he said cheekily, unwrapping a huge sandwich from the tray and taking a big bite, then unwrapping a more reasonably sized one, breaking off a piece and feeding her with it. His fingers accidentally brushed her lips when she bit.

The friction of his fingers on her mouth was enough to make her moan and she followed instinctively only for her to draw back when he drew back, shaking his head and wagging a finger at her.

He took another bite of his sandwich and made a production of licking his lips.

Bonnie chewed slowly, watching him with narrowed eyes.

He took his time working through the meal, savoring each bite with a lot of moans and finger-licking, and insisting on feeding her every single bite, with lots of lip stroking, his fingers slipping between her mouth to touch her tongue.

By the time the tray was empty, tension was coiled in her belly like a spring ready to snap – at him.

Instead, she wiped her fingers carefully, and slipped out of the bed with the tray. She could feel his eyes boring through her back as she walked to the table by the door.

She smiled. Two can play this game.

* * *

What was she up to? Kai wondered, watching Bonnie take her sweet time placing the tray on the table, stacking the paper plates and the rest of the trash neatly.

He had been half-off the bed before she took the tray, and now, he stood fully, meaning to walk towards her only to find that he suddenly couldn't move. Bonnie's magic shimmered down his spine.

It was a good thing he had thrown up a shield while she slept. Until she learnt to cloak her magic, it would be a beacon to anyone who knew where to look. And they'd be looking for both of them now.

Her magic was slightly different than he remembered – rawer, not as polished, which made sense as she was new to her powers and the Bonnie of his past – future? – was a fairly seasoned witch. But in addition to that, her magic also echoed in a way that he couldn't explain; as if there were more than one side to her essence.

Whatever it was though, her magic called to him, turning him on at the most fundamental level.

As if that wasn't bad enough, he looked up to see that she had turned to watch him, green eyes bright with challenge.

Little Kai stood at attention at once.

She saw it and she grinned wickedly.

"Bonnie," he said, and his voice actually cracked. He cleared his throat and tried some semblance of dignity. "Come here."

She tut-tutted and turned back to the tray. "In a moment."

It was payback for the teasing he had done with the food a few moments ago. Why else did she have to bend through that ridiculous angle, so low that her spine was lower than her backside, to empty the contents of the tray into the trash? There seemed to be an invisible line connecting the curve of her derriere to his dick. He would never look at Minnie Mouse the same way again.

"Bonnie…" he said, hoarsely, dignity going south.

"In a moment…" she murmured, making a show of dropping the paper cups into the trash, as well. One by one.

He could see from the side of her face, that her cheeks were slightly pink and it made him grin despite his obvious discomfort.

"Can I at least move?" he managed.

"Can I trust you not to pounce on me?" she asked, dropping the tray now into the trash. Very. Very. Slowly.

"Nope," Kai said, voice strangled as his eyes followed Minnie Mouse's bow.

"Then, no."

She finished then, turning round to smile at him. Her face was completely red by now but her smile was so smug that he really, really needed to kiss it off.

"You have magic now," he managed. "Good for you."

Bonnie grinned back, her green eyes dancing. She waved her hands at him, and he felt her magic course through his bones again as he fell, bouncing on the bed.

"Hey!" he said, laughing.

Bonnie stalked towards him, that big, mischievous smile still in place and he shifted, moving forward to meet her.

"No no no," she said, shaking her head and wagging a finger at him. She pushed her hands against the air, and he slid back on the bed, all the way so that his body was stretched out on the bed.

"Be careful with how you use that thing," Kai said, only half-jokingly, his heart thrumming. "You don't want to accidentally break me, do you?"

"You can fix yourself back, can't you?" she murmured, reaching the bed, and climbing on it.

He watched her as she crawled over him, his heart pounding madly in his chest. This new, confident, seductive Bonnie was just as sexy - maybe even more so - than the innocent girl he had spent the past few weeks driving crazy - driving himself crazy over, too.

This close, he could feel her aura beating against his, and he rose to meet her. He could practically smell it in the air, sparks like lightening where their auras touched.

She reached his hips and sat on him in a way that made him groan loudly. Her own breath hitched as she leaned over him, her lips just brushing his.

He reached over and wrapped her hair through his fingers, holding her in place as he finally, finally, kissed her. Their magic crashed together and he could practically hear the echo, like thunder in his head. It was a furious tangle of tongue and lips and teeth, both of them having been driven to the brink by their respective teasing.

They pulled back, eyes wild, breathing heavily into their mouths. Distantly, Kai registered that the curtains were flapping, beating in tune with the music that their combined magic was making but he could not pay attention to that. Not when he needed to run his hands down the breathtaking curve of her spine, to clamp possessively over her butt, yanking her hard on him. She yelped, then giggled.

"You saved my life," Kai murmured against her skin, shifting to press a kiss into her throat.

Bonnie moaned, her hands fisting his shirt. "I know."

"It was incredibly sexy."

She giggled again. "I know."

His mouth moved lower, his tongue coming out to lick the little triangle above her cleavage and she shuddered. "However am I going to repay you?"

She gasped then shifted down his body, the slide as aching as it was delicious and found his lips with her own. After a long moment of sweet kissing, she broke off first, burying her face into his neck. "I can think of a few ideas," she said murmured, her mouth moving on his skin and making him ache. But more than that, Kai could hear the old shyness creeping back into her voice. It was mixed with this newfound sexy confidence and it did wonders to his libido.

He growled and attacked her mouth again. And this time, he knew he was hearing real thunder, far in the distance.

She gave as good as she got, her curves molding into him so much that he lost it, flipping her over so that she was beneath him, their bodies straining towards each other. Then she pushed him, until he was beneath her. He was so turned on that he wasn't sure how long he could last before he buried himself inside her.

When she started sliding down his body, her mouth open and licking down the line of dark hair on his torso, her tongue laving his sternum, dipping into his navel, then her teeth nipping at junction of his pelvis, he felt his brain breaking.

 _Oh._

 _My._

 _Fuck!_

By the time, her mouth had closed over his cock, he was levitating.

Literally levitating. Their bodies had floated mid-way up the room. Bonnie lifted her head once to notice, then she laughed and laughed and laughed.

Kai felt like if his head, his heart and his cock were dissolving with the sound of her laughter.

Neither of them lasted long.

Outside the storm raged.

* * *

 _ **AN** : So I gave you guys fair warning and you insisted that you wanted the story to barrel down to its uncertain conclusion. You chose your own fate, OK?_

 _Thanks for the reviews. Also, last night's episode sucked. #notmyBK #notmycanon_


	28. The Adventures of Bonnie and Kai

**The Adventures of Bonnie and Kai**

"Who were they? Those witches?"

His face darkened as he stared out the car window, watching the trees lining the highway fly past. Cincinnati was already far behind.

The plan was to go as far away from all their pursuers – his and hers – as possible. Bonnie didn't quite understand why he couldn't just 'port' them to their destination, like he did all those times during school – what now felt like a lifetime ago. He had tried explaining to her about portals, and magical physics but it had been too complicated. The spell alone looked more like something from a college-level Astrophysics thesis than like a magical formula.

There was still so much she needed to learn. Kai still had to cloak her every time she did magic.

"Kai?"

"Gemini."

She waited for him to explain and when he didn't, she let out an impatient laugh. "Kai, I have no idea what that means."

So he told her. About his family being the equivalent of royalty in a millennia-old coven. Their practice of leadership passing through a line of twins – the leader being the winner of a magical duel-to-the-death. He and his twin sister were firstborn, but he had been born with a defect – he was a magical leech and his father had locked him up in magic prison to stop him from getting his birth right. His father was the Joshua who had visited Sheila.

The idea of twins being made to murder each other over centuries disturbed her deeply and the matter-of-factly way Kai explained this part made it even more revolting.

A reminder of the dark side to this strange power of theirs.

"He locked you up just because he didn't want you to win? Why didn't he just send you away?"

Kai shrugged, his face fixed straight ahead.

"But you have magic. You use it all the time."

"I… got some. A pretty large supply of it. Saved a town from a curse. It's lasted longer than usual but it'll run out one day. It always does."

She snuck a glance at him. Why did she feel there was more to this story than met the eye? But still, "that wasn't fair but I'm glad you didn't merge with your sister."

His gaze flew at her, his eyebrows raised, his eyes filled with hurt.

Bonnie wished she wasn't driving so that she could hold his gaze with her own. Instead she reached over and grabbed his hand. He struggled at first, then relaxed, letting her hold on.

"What if you had lost?"

He let out a short bark of laughter. "I always win."

"But what if you had lost. I-I… couldn't bear it."

"Why? You'd never even have known me."

Bonnie swallowed against the sudden lump in her throat. "That only makes it worse."

He was silent for some time after that. Then she felt his hand squeeze her own.

After about an hour of driving, they stopped for gas and snacks and they were on the road again. This time, Kai took the wheel.

"There was a moment, maybe all of five seconds, when I thought you had drawn me out to trap me."

Bonnie gasped, looking up from fiddling with the radio to stare at him with hurt in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"How could you…? I would never… I can never…"

"I know." Kai grabbed her hand. She tried to pull away but he held it firmly, pulled it to his lips and kissed it fiercely. "I'm an idiot. You saved my life. Got your magic because of me."

He felt his heart tighten sharply, strange but not unpleasant emotions coursing through him as he glanced at the beautiful woman – girl, really – by his side. Oh, he was used to the desire – to own her, to consume her, possess her in every way one person could possibly possess another person. He was used to the longing that overwhelmed him when she was not right next to him, in his arms. He was used to so many emotions – most of them ones he had just felt for the first time – because of Bonnie.

But this tenderness, this crippling sense of gratitude, of … humility.

He swallowed, looking away from the way her eyes were shining softly at him.

"So now you have magic, you're going to take on some of the muscle. I might need to channel you once in a while. If the Gemini coven are tracking me down, then I can't use magic willy-nilly anymore."

She frowned, doubt clear on her face. "I don't know if I -"

He chuckled. "You just got your powers and you took out twelve Gemini. Then you tossed me around the room like a doll and had your wicked way with me." He laughed out loud as her face delightfully reddened. "You'll be fine. I told you that you were awesome, didn't I?"

And he was pleased to see the way her eyes brightened, eagerness rapidly replacing fear. "I can't wait to see you in action, Bonnie," he whispered.

The highway stretched ahead of them, wide and free as they passed the sign that said 'Goodbye from Virginia'.

* * *

"Are you still repeating the words of the spell in your head?"

Kai had drawn up a low table to the edge of the Madison motel bed, and she sat cross-legged in front of it. He was sitting behind her, his arms half-way around her, hands lightly resting on her wrists.

Bonnie nodded in reply to his question.

"Watch," he whispered, his lips brushing slightly against her ear and making her shiver.

But she kept her eyes peeled on the bowl of water, and left her arms loose in his grip, letting him guide her hands into a gesture that should have been complicated, but somehow seemed intuitive.

Like if a match had been thrown on gasoline, the top of the water caught fire.

Bonnie gasped, her eyes widening. "How did you do that?"

"Not me. You," he replied, his chest vibrating behind her back as he chuckled. He raised her hands higher and she watched the flames rise in tandem.

"Knock yourself out." His hands slipped out of her wrists.

Bonnie's hands shook and the fire shuddered. "What if I set something on fire?"

He chuckled again, something darker in his humor this time, as his arms wrapped around her waist. "I'm right here."

So she went to town, throwing the fire as high as she could, then sending it in an arc around the room. The first time something did catch and burn, she instinctively panicked, but he just lazily flicked his hand, murmuring something, and the smoke and the burn vanished, leaving only the pure flame.

When she got tired of it, they tried other spells – levitation, summoning, illuminating, unlocking, simple transformations…

"How do you learn all these stuff?" Bonnie asked, as she watched the shoes she had levitated knocking in the air. "I mean a lot of it seems to be by instinct but who teaches you how to do the rest? Did your family send you to Hogwarts or something?"

"What is Hogwarts?" he asked, his toes rubbing against the soles of her feet. He had been doing that for a few minutes now, and it certainly had her attention.

"You know… Harry Potter's school?" she managed to say, gasping a little.

"Who is-"

But she had turned around in his arms, and the rest of his words were swallowed by her mouth.

Doing magic did something to her, she realized, as she frantically tugged off his shirt and dived back in. He laughed, simply, happily, falling backwards as her mouth attacked his neck. His hand was wrapped through her curls, his other hand touching each of her clothes in turn as he vanished them.

She leaned back, partly to pull off his pants and partly to stare at his handiwork.

She pouted. "That's so not fair. You need to teach me that."

"One thing at a time," he retorted, touching his clothes and vanishing them, then grabbing her back to him. "You don't want to flay me now, do you?"

Her eyes danced with mischief and sin. "Maybe just one part." And she winked at him, slid down his body and took him in her mouth.

* * *

While Kai went to get food, Bonnie had a long, luxurious shower. They had driven almost four hours today before they stopped at the motel on the outskirts of Minneapolis, and she felt stiff all over.

She ran her hand over her stomach as the warm water poured down her body. It was still as flat as a board. Sometimes, she wondered if she was really pregnant or if her grandmother and mother had just been trying to scare her.

She still didn't feel pregnant. And even the nausea had stopped.

She bit her lip. She hadn't told Kai. Kept trying to in her head but there never seemed to be a good time, the words never seemed to come out.

She hated to admit it – but she was scared to tell him.

His devotion – obsession with her – was undeniable. She'd be a fool to doubt it at this point in time. But what would he feel about a baby?

What if he got mad? What if he agreed with her mother –

and her heart would clench and her hand would fall protectively over her non-existent bump –

– and asked her to get rid of it?

If it came down to Kai or her baby, Bonnie didn't know what she would choose.

So she stayed silent. She would tell him. Obviously, she could only keep it a secret for so long.

Just not right now.

Now, she wanted to revel in this adventure.

She changed the setting to slightly cool, and shook out her hair. Pregnancy angst aside, how OK she was with all this was almost scary. But as long as she had Kai, she could take on the world.

A warm hand touched her back and she smiled. She turned to see him standing by the door, his eyes dark and hungry, and his body wearing too many clothes.

"What are you waiting for?" she wondered.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

Bonnie laughed. "What are you, a vampire? You've never asked before," she reminded him, and her body tightened at the memory.

His was already ready, if the bulge in his jeans was any indication. She reached for him, hooking her fingers into his belt and pulling him into the shower, clothes and all.

He looked so good soaking wet with clothes on that it was almost a shame to take them off. Almost. Because she knew that without clothes, he looked delicious. Her fingers stumbled slightly over his buttons, his gaze burning through her head all the while. She pushed the wet, clingy material past his shoulders and just took a moment to enjoy the view, the dark hair clinging to the sides of his face, his facial hair from days of not shaving making him look so dangerously sexy, the droplets clinging to the muscles on his chest and stomach. Her hand reached for his belt and he grabbed it, shaking his head slightly. She looked at him, confused, but not for long when he fell to his knees, his hands reaching for her thighs to pull her to him.

 _Do you remember the first time I kissed you?_ he asked and the words didn't come in through her ears but echoed in her head. His hands were sliding into her core.

"Yes," she gasped, clutching his shoulders.

His hand stilled.

She frowned, then realization hit her.

It came as easily as thinking her own thoughts.

 _Yes._

He smiled, his hands continuing their ministrations, before being shortly followed by his mouth.

* * *

An empty dusty blue van was the only other vehicle on the highway gas station. Kai leaned against his own sleeker ride, and pumped gas, whistling under his breath, whistling under his breath as he watched Bonnie waltz into the store in those tight, short shorts. They had been on the run for five days now, and had made it halfway across the country. The plan was to go to Montana, which by his calculation was as far as the Traveler's Magic would let him, and then set up there, for as long as they could without the Gemini or her family finding them.

He thought ruefully as he felt the waves of her magic slithering out of the store that his plans were a far cry from the ones he had at the start of this weird little chapter of his life. Then his plans were filled with merging with his sister, winning his coven, then slaughtering most of its members.

Now… Now his goals were much simpler.

Maybe he had gotten soft. Maybe she made him soft. That made Kai smile as the doors opened, and Bonnie waltzed out, carrying a backpack she didn't have with her before, no doubt full of cash. She was taking off his edge and he had given her one. That sounded like a fair enough trade.

"How did it go?" he asked, taking in her smug little smile.

"The old pops will never know what happened," she said, still smiling and tossed the backpack to the backseat of the convertible. It vanished the moment it hit the leather. She wiped her hands together. "You ready?"

He yanked the pump out and closed the nozzle. "Yep."

They hopped into the car, Bonnie behind the wheel, and zoomed off, coating the blue van with a layer of exhaust fumes.

* * *

The door of bathroom to the side of the store that the renegade witch had just robbed inched open and a small girl with long dark hair, and old eyes stepped out. She slid behind the wheel of the blue van, and started moving, her gaze peeled on the car in front, barreling towards the horizon.

She smiled.

 _She's ready._

* * *

The image in the magazine was flawless – the hair woven in intricate two-stranded twists and then wrapped up at the top of the model's head in a simple-looking knot that was anything but. It was the kind of do that Bonnie would have saved all summer to go to a beauty salon in Whitmore to fix. Now she stared hard at the style, making sure she had committed every single braid and roll into memory, then she closed her eyes and lifted up her hands over her head, waving it around the top of her skull and letting her instincts follow the call of magic like Kai had taught her.

Finally – and it sure did take longer than she imagined – she felt the spell end, and she opened her eyes.

Her hair was exactly as the model's in the magazine – right down to the single streak of red that had been placed strategically for effect.

Squeeing with glee, she ran out of the bathroom and jumped on top of the sleeping man on the hotel bed. They had crossed the North Dakota border that morning and Kai insisted on celebrating by checking them into a ritzy place for a change.

"W-what?" Kai mumbled, sitting up straight and almost throwing her off.

She stayed put, straddling him as she turned her head for him to get a full view. "How do I look?"

"Wow," he muttered. "That's really…" His brow furrowed. "I really love your outfit."

She threw a pillow at him, and he fell back, laughing. "My hair, you dumbass!"

"Sorry. Couldn't resist."

"I did it with magic!" she yelled, still pummeling him with the pillow.

"I kind of figured that out," he snickered. "Unless, you've learnt how to freeze time."

"Yeah, right…" Then she stopped with the pillow-attack and leaned over him, seriously. "Can we do that?"

"Yep," he said. "With a little bit more skill. For you, that'll probably be by the end of summer."

"Wow," Bonnie gasped. She threw herself beside him, shifting until their sides were pressed into each other. He turned a little on his side, propping up his chin to stare down at her. "This is amazing." She let out a small, incredulous laugh. "We are amazing." She lifted up her head to run her hand over her now slightly-mushed hair and laughed again. "If I did this the normal way, I won't be able to sleep properly for a week, at least. I'd be so worried about getting it messed up. Now I can wear a different hair-do every hour."

"Some people who got powers would be thinking about robbing banks or taking over the world. You, Bonnie Bennett, are thinking of hair-dos."

"I think a life of no bad-hair days is a pretty mean feat," she retorted. Then a slightly sober look came to her face. "Some other people would be thinking of curing cancer or finding world peace."

"You're a witch," he said sternly, "not a god."

Bonnie gave him a sharp look, but bit her tongue against the obvious question.

He saw it in her eyes all the same and shrugged. "I don't have all the answers, Bonnie. No one on this side of life does."

"What is my coven?" she asked while they basked in the after-glow of Jacuzzi sex.

Kai shrugged. "You don't have one."

"I mean not _me_ obviously. My mom, my grandmom."

"What I said. Bennetts don't do covens."

"Why? Your family does."

"Yep."

She poked him with her toe and he laughed, enjoying how he wound her up.

"It's like team sports versus solo games. For most witches – practically all witches – magic is a team sport. You stay in a coven and draw from the collective power of all the witches in the coven, living and dead. The bigger your coven, and the more powerful the individual witches, the stronger your magic."

"And my family?"

"The Bennetts," and he said her family's name with something akin to reverence, "are like a family of All-Star solo players. You don't need a coven. Covens are probably even a bad idea for Bennetts because you guys have too much damned power."

Bonnie shuddered, pulling away. "You make us sound like freaks."

He winked. "Bad-ass freaks."

She wasn't convinced and he kissed her until the worry seeped out of her head. "You come from a long line of bad-asses, Bonnie. Revel in it. I know I do."

* * *

They had made love on the Idaho grass under the stars, and the nearly full moon. Kai had placed a shield around them, screening them from prying eyes, more for Bonnie's sake than his own. It had been glorious, their magic unleashed and clashing together as their bodies rode through their passion, Bonnie's fire scorching the earth around them while his had started a storm, lightning striking the trees, then rain to wet the burning grass.

When they were sated, they lay on their sides, his arms and leg locked tightly around her, his face in her hair as he breathed her in. His hand cupped her left breast, and he could feel the drumming of her heart as it slowed to normal.

It was probably the happiest moment of his living memory.

There was something he wanted to say, but he had no idea how to form the words and they stuck at the back of the lump in his throat.

Bonnie's fingers linked with his own and squeezed. "I love you."

His breath caught, and he pushed his face into her neck, his heart hammering. "I…I…" He couldn't.

Her fingers squeezed harder. "I know," she whispered. She turned in his arms, the movement slow because of the iron-like hold he had on her but for once, it didn't instantly set him off again, his mind spinning too wildly for his body to react. He stared into Bonnie's beautiful face, those large green eyes and felt like hiding.

He didn't deserve this.

"I know, Kai," she murmured and placed her hands on the sides of his face and kissed him. She broke it off, panting, her eyes large and intense. "Kai, I-"

He kissed her again before she could tell him she loved him again. Before she could pierce through his heart with her words, rip his soul into shreds and piece it back in her image.

She mumbled against the kiss, trying to get out the words, but after a long moment of slow, drugging slide of lips against lips, tongue against tongue, breaths mingling and seizing, she gave in, moaning into his throat, as he rolled them round, his body pushing hers into the ground.

This time around, their magic mingled in a gentler way – no flames or lightning, just warm steam filling the air, creating a small monsoon over their little spot on the world.

* * *

They spent the whole day travelling, as eager to cover as much ground as possible, stopping only to eat and pump gas. But they finally threw in the towel by evening and checked into a motel off the I-94.

They lingered in the diner, and after their meal, Bonnie went to play at the pool table with a couple of college co-eds. She tried to make him follow, but he begged off. She had been strangely withdrawn all day, and he wondered if she missed home, missed her friends, missed this time of environment. He would never offer to take her back – he wasn't that far gone – but the least he could do was give her space, stay content just watching her.

Soon though, Kai noticed that he wasn't the only one that followed her short skirt with his eyes every time she lined up a shot. All the guys were looking. Heck, even some of the girls were.

Every once in a while, she looked over at him, beckoning him with her eyes. He spent half an hour struggling between the urge to rush over there and either strangle the voyeurs or push her against the wall and then himself into her.

He compromised by cloaking himself, crawling under the pool table and putting his mouth to good use under that short skirt.

Eight minutes later, they ported to their motel room and she was sitting on his face, screaming his name as he finished what he had started while the lights in the room blinked off and on.

Half hour later, he was half-asleep on the bed, listening to the sound of her breathing. For once, he wasn't spooning her, but instead, her head lay on his chest and he ran his fingers gently through her silky hair. By tomorrow, they'd be entering Montana and then they would be officially as far from Mystic Falls as they could go without straining his magic.

They'd been studying the grimoires and they had figured out how to build a ward that could practically keep them invisible to the Gemini. Then he, and Bonnie would be safe.

He was halfway into a dream about his future with Bonnie, when he heard his phone buzzing.

Shock rippled through him.

It had been silent for so long – his informant quiet – that for a moment, he didn't know what to do. Then he picked the call, as he mentally cast a silencing spell so as not to disturb Bonnie.

It was over in a few minutes but the message was clear.

Jo was back.

She had landed in LAX, and she would be flying across the country in a series of seminars for a few days until she reached Whitmore, Virginia.

Kai had the knife. He could go and grab his sister, force her to take her magic back, force her to merge.

It was what he had kept him sane for eighteen years of utter isolation. The belief that he would get out of that Prison World, make his twin pay, and get everything that had been stolen from him.

So what was he waiting for?

He looked down at the face of the girl in his arms.

If he merged with Jo, he would never have to run from the Gemini again.

If he tried and failed, he would be caught. This may even be another trap. No doubt his father would expect him to meet Jo and capture Kai.

But if Kai didn't try and Jo was put on her guard, she could disappear again and god knows to where. This might be his only chance to catch her.

Beside him, Bonnie stirred restlessly. She probably felt his heart pounding in his chest.

By tomorrow evening, they would be in Montana. If he lost Bonnie now, he'd never get her back. The Bennetts would put so many layers of magical protection on her that he would never find her again.

It finally came down to this. This choice. Risk losing Bonnie or risk losing everything else.

Kai ran slightly shaky fingers over Bonnie's face. Through the window, he could see the large moon looming.

* * *

 **A/N** : LOL, in case it wasn't painfully obvious, the chapter title is a spin on "Bonnie and Clyde." Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing this story so far! I really appreciate it. :D Still... I can't help but notice a drop in the volume of reviews. Not to be greedy (lol! who am I kidding?) but it's always nice to get feedback, no matter how few the words or even if it's just "really liked it". I read somewhere that some fanfic readers feel that reviews are "disturbing" the writers? Well, rest assured that I do not feel that way at all! I can never get too many reviews. :D So go ahead and fill in that box. :D Cheers


	29. End of the road

**End of the road**

* * *

CREDIT: Soe Yun is a character from keenan24's amazing story _By and Down_

* * *

"No."

"Just don't do magic while I'm gone. I can port there, and be back before you…"

"No, Kai!"

"Bonnie…"

She struggled against the tears that threatened to fall. "It could be a trap. It probably _is_ a trap. Can you trust this informant of yours?"

"Soe Yun? Not completely. But I'll be cloaked the entire time, I promise you, Bonnie. I'll be out of there before they even realize that I'm there."

She paced their small motel room, wringing her hands. "What if they're cloaked as well? Kai, this is too risky."

"It's a chance I have to take."

"Why?" She asked, and tears were running down her cheeks now.

"Bonnie…" He reached for her and she pushed back, stepping out of his reach.

"Tell me why it's so important that you murder your sister?"

He sighed. "Merge, not murder, Bonnie. And yes, it is important. It's all I could think of for my entire life. Merging with Jo. Getting my own magic. They told me I was worthless without my own magic – and then they refused to let me have the only thing that would give me magic. This is my _birthright_ , Bonnie."

"And after? You punish your coven?" She spat.

He shook his head. "That's what it used to be about. Not anymore." He stepped closer to her. "Can't you see? This way, we don't have to hide anymore. Bonnie, I'm doing this for us as well."

"No, you're not. You're doing this for yourself."

"Bonnie. I…"

"What if you lose?" she asked desperately, finally voicing her final and strongest fear.

He laughed.

"I mean it, Kai. You're so sure you can beat Jo. But what if you lose?"

"I won't lose, Bonnie. I always win." He winked at her then. "I won you."

She shook her head, not caring to take him to task for that. "Don't go, Kai," she said desperately and she threw herself in his arms. They went around her at once, as she pressed kisses into his neck and jaw, desperately, her body pushing into his, rocking against his, using everything in her to keep with her. "Please don't leave me..."

"Bonnie…" he groaned, as like a switch turning on, she felt him get instantly hard.

She stood tiptoed on his feet, and reached for him, bringing his mouth down to hers as she kissed him with everything she had. Her tongue tasted him thoroughly, swirling, teasing, stroking and he was moaning by the time she pulled back. His eyes were dark, stormy and he grabbed her, his hands locking under her butt as she wrapped her legs around his waist, all but running to fall on top of her on the bed.

"I can't bear to lose you. I can't."

"I'll come back to you. I promise you."

Her hands were desperate as they reached for his belt, but he held them over her shoulders, pinned them to the bed as he closed his eyes, and then all their clothes had vanished. Then it was just both of them, completely naked as he went inside her wet folds in one thrust.

A sudden storm had started outside, hail too but they didn't notice, didn't care, mindless and lost in each other. Fear and desperation pushed her higher and higher and she could hear him not far behind, until they were both exploding at the same time. From the corner of her eye, she saw flames through the window but she didn't care, nothing mattered, except staying as entwined in this man's arms for as long as possible.

"Please don't leave me, Kai. Please."

"I'll come back to you," he said, frantic kisses on her cheeks, her throat, her breasts, her stomach, her clit. He was sliding down her body and she tried to grab him but he was slick with sweat. "Don't do any magic while I'm gone."

"Kai. No!"

He stared at her, his eyes torn and for a moment, she thought he would change his mind, then his eyes fell shut and she felt the wave of magic hit her.

"Don't! Kai, please, there's something I have to tell -"

But darkness had already fallen.

* * *

From her window, the small girl with dark hair and old eyes watched the Gemini enter the sleek car and pull out of the lot.

Bonnie Bennett was completely alone.

 _Perfect._

* * *

The moment his twin walked through the airport doors, Kai spotted her. Tall, dark hair and eyes like him. Walking through the Virginia airport with her minuscule luggage like she had just conquered the world.

Strange how much, with everything going on, he still had room in his head to resent Josette so much.

He had meant what he said to Bonnie. It wasn't about punishing his coven. If it had only been that, he could have walked away. He could have escaped into oblivion with her. It would have been enough.

But now that he was confronted with the possibility, the idea of letting Jo get away with everything. Her life. Her happiness. The success and fulfilment she had spent almost two decades building while he languished in hell… No. Kai couldn't bring himself to do that.

He could still remember the look on her face when he was banished. Satisfied. Triumphant. But worse than that, the look before when she told him that they were not merging. That father had forbidden it.

She had never wanted to merge with him. Not because he was a siphon or a sociopath or any of the reasons she had latched onto to justify her betrayal of her coven.

She had not wanted to merge with him because she knew she would lose.

"Sorry, Sissy," he hissed as he followed her at a discreet distance down the long airport hallways. "Your number's up."

* * *

Dr. Jo Laughlin finished her business in the stall and stepped towards a vacant sink. All the sinks were vacant. The bathroom that had been bustling when she stepped in was suddenly empty.

Shrugging, she washed her hands, then touched up her makeup. She was packing up her bag, when something caught her eye and she looked up.

Then gasped.

The mirror, which had just been a clear looking-glass a few minutes ago, had misted over. And letters, like a finger writing behind it, were forming:

* * *

KAI IS COMING. RUN.

Bonnie sat in front of the mirror, her back to the shut door of the motel room, her hands flat on the glass on either side of the words she had written with red lipstick, while her lips murmured the words of the communication spell. This was the first time she was doing an incantation she had not learnt or practiced with Kai and she had no idea if this was working. She didn't even have anything of Jo Parker herself – an important ingredient for the spell – but she had used a strand of Kai's hair instead, hoping that as they were twins, the magic would make up the difference.

It had to work, she told herself, as she watched the flickering candles and muttered the words over and over again. It was a betrayal, she knew, but he would understand. He had to. She was doing this for all of them – him, her and their unborn child.

Their child.

She had thought she had so much time to tell him and now panic shook her at the thought that it was already too late.

 _He'll come back to me,_ Bonnie told herself desperately even as she muttered the incantation over and over again. _He has to._

The candles went out – the spell, for better or worse, was done.

She heaved a large breath, and reached forward with a wipe to clean up the letters… when she froze.

The door behind her had opened, and standing in the doorway was _her_.

The girl from the boarding house.

The girl from the library.

"Hello, Bonnie."

Bonnie sprang to her feet, spinning around, her hands stretched out before her in instinctive defensiveness.

"Who are you and what do you want?"

The girl smiled, her canines protruding past her lips.

 _Vampire_ , Bonnie thought, her mind screaming as flashbacks of that night in the library assailed her. Her hands grasped desperately at the magic coiling around her, panic making her clumsy.

The raised up her hands in a disarming motion. "I mean you no harm," she said mildly. Her boot toed the threshold. "I can't even come in without an invitation."

Bonnie forced herself to think through her panic. Yes, that was true. Kai had told her as much.

"What do you want?" she asked again, still clutching her magic.

"A trinket of yours. Something you won't even miss, I'm sure." Her smile broadened. "And a little bit of magic."

That smile was beginning to get on Bonnie's already frazzled nerves. "I don't have to do anything for you. Get out before-"

"Are you sure?" the vampire asked, batting her lashes. "Are you very sure, Bonnie?"

"Yes!"

"We can be good friends, Bonnie. Or we can be…"

Bonnie flung out her hand, and a ball of fire rolled in the girl's direction. Faster than she could blink, the girl vanished, letting the flames smash against the far wall, evaporating like smoke.

Bonnie spun around in confusion, half-expecting to find the girl in her room.

"I really hoped you'd be reasonable, Bonnie," the vampire called.

Bonnie whirled to see her once more standing by her doorway. The creepy smile had gone, replaced by a droopy mouth of mock sorrow. Then Bonnie blinked, and she was gone.

She took out her phone and started punching Kai's number.

* * *

KAI. IS. COMING. RUN.

The name was like a shot of adrenaline through Josette Parker's brain.

She had always known, deep down, that this day would come.

She didn't hesitate, didn't second-guess it, just grabbed her bag and her suitcase and dashed out of the bathroom and into the crowded hallway.

To run into a man with a hoodie walking casually along the way. He grabbed her to break her fall.

"Excuse me," she muttered, barely glancing up … and then she froze.

Kai.

"Hello, Sissy," he whispered, his grip turning painful; and she felt the spell fall over her eyes.

She couldn't move, she couldn't scream. She could only watch in mute horror, as her twin took her elbow and led her out of the airport.

* * *

The call wasn't going through. Airport interference, probably. Bonnie threw down the phone in desperation, tried to think.

What should she do? As long as she stayed in the room, she was safe. The vampire couldn't get in. But how long could Bonnie stay in here, trapped? How long before Kai got back?

Bonnie ran frantic fingers through her hair, her heart pounding, her eyes flitting across the room for something – anything – to protect her.

And not just her – her unborn child.

That was when she remembered.

She dragged down her luggage, and searched frantically through its contents. She hadn't set her eyes on it since the night she left her Grandma and Abby, and she prayed to everything that it would still be there.

Finally, her hand touched the intricate metal, and she pulled it out.

Emmanuelle's necklace.

She wrapped it around her throat at once.

At once, she felt its heaviness seep into her soul, into her bones, into her magic.

Kai would hate this, she thought. But he hadn't left her any choice.

She repacked her luggage, and started gathering their things frantically. As soon he came back, they'd have to move quickly.

She was standing in front of the mirror, sweeping her magic items and cosmetics into a duffel, when a movement caught her gaze, she glanced up –

And froze.

Thirteen people standing behind Bonnie. Joshua Parker, Kai's father in front of them.

She screamed, her magic shooting out instinctively but they had caught her by surprise and despite her power, she was an untrained young witch. She never stood a chance.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **OMG!** You guys are the best! I only expected a handful of reviews (heck, I half-expected some of you might be ticked off and **not** review), but you guys really showered me with lots of love and feedback. Thank you so much!

Please keep them coming. ;)

Winding down now...


	30. Crossroads

**Crossroads**

Kai pushed Jo into the passenger seat of her own car, then opened his jacket so she could see the knife glinting in his pocket.

"You've had a good run," he sing-sang into her frozen face. "But now is the time for you to step up and do what you should have done fourteen years ago."

She couldn't move her eyes, but somehow the shock, fear and hatred she felt shone right through.

He grinned. "Missed you, too. Sissy."

He was whistling as he walked to the driver's side. They were out of the Airport grounds in a few minutes. Night was falling and he looked around as the car drove along the wide, empty airport roads. Somewhere isolated would be best. Somewhere he could stab his sister enough times until the pain forced her to take her magic back. In less than an hour, the moon will be up and it will be all over.

He finally found a dirt road and he drove into it, grinning at his luck. Beside him, Jo was stirring. The spell was going to wear off soon. Perfect timing.

He parked the car into the clearing and walked to her side of the car. He grabbed her by the elbow and dragged her out.

Then he grabbed the knife.

Jo's face shook, her eyes spitting hate.

Kai smiled. "So are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?" He offered her the knife.

She stared at him for a long moment, then she took it.

Her next move was so stupid, so predictable and so Jo that for a split-second, he almost felt fond of his sister. Of course, she would try to stab him with her own knife and of course, he'd just have to stab her through her arm to teach her a lesson.

She screamed, grabbing the wound.

"The hard way then," he declared, laughing and raised both hands – the knife in one and magic in the other.

His phone rang.

Bonnie. He had her on a specific ringtone.

A sense of the surreal suddenly threatened to overwhelm him. It was like if he was staring apart from himself, watching himself holding a bloody knife over his bleeding sister. And the thought that ran through his head then, was, _"What would Bonnie think if she saw you now?"_

The phone kept ringing. His heart was suddenly pounding. He felt like gagging.

"Hold on a second," he whispered to Jo, shooting her with a silencing spell.

He picked up the phone. "Bonnie, I-"

"Hello, Malachai."

He froze. Fear like a cold hand on his throat choked him.

"Are you there?"

"What. Did. You. Do. With. Bonnie?"

"She's safe, for now. Not much longer."

"Sheila Bennett would never-"

"I've replaced my alliance with Sheila with someone who has more… motivation to get hold of the Bennett witch. Capturing _you_ is more important for our coven."

"I don't believe you," Kai said desperately, staring blindly at Jo who was frowning at him, her mouth moving soundlessly. "You're bluffing."

"Are you willing to risk your unborn children?"

He felt the ground shift under his feet. "What?"

"Parkers born from the Bennett bloodline. I am almost impressed. The Gemini will claim them, of course."

He couldn't think. His father was lying. There was no way. No way. She would have told him. She would have told him.

The times she had been off her food for days.

Her aura. The doubling of it. The echoing of it.

"There's a diner near the motel you were staying. You'll find us there." The call ended.

 _"_ _Please, there's something I have to tell…"_

His eyes focused on Jo, and the blood on her sleeve. He could finish the merge and get enough power to come after his father. But it might be too late for Bonnie then. For their unborn children – he thought with a shiver.

It was the choice all over again. He had thought he had taken a third option. But now he was at the crossroads.

Vengeance and all the power he could have hoped for?

Or

Bonnie?

* * *

 **A/N** : Dun dun dun dun... What would he choose?

(More replies, please :) )


	31. Showdown at Magic Town

**Showdown at Magic Town**

Bonnie.

Kai took out the phone and sent a message, praying against everything that it got to where it needed to go in time.

He gave his twin one last poisonous look, as his hand tightened around her knife. Then he closed his eyes and vanished.

Jo gasped, the spell breaking as he left and fell to her knees. Not for long. She staggered to her car and reached for her First Aid kit, applying the treatment rapidly, while her mind stormed with questions.

* * *

When Kai opened his eyes, he was in the diner.

It was empty. Except for one person sitting on top of the pool table that they had been so creative with the night before.

Bonnie looked unharmed. No ropes or magical binds. Just her small, jeans-and t-shirt clad figure sitting on the table with her arms wrapped tightly around herself. He rushed to her, half-expecting the floor to open beneath him and drop him in a cage. But he was at her side within seconds.

She gasped when he appeared and the tears that were swimming in her green eyes, spilled.

"Kai, run! It's a trap!" she cried.

"I know," he said, heavily as his arms folded her into himself. He felt her chest heaving painfully. "Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?"

The tears flowed harder. "I'm so sorry. I should have told you. This is all my fault."

His heart jumped and he staggered. So it was true. Up until then, he hadn't realized just how badly…

…he had wanted it to be true.

His hands shook as he leaned back to cup her cheeks, swipe her tears with his thumbs.

"It's not," he whispered fiercely and his grip must have been hurting her but he couldn't bring himself to let go. She didn't complain.

"Malachai."

Joshua stepped out of the shadows, the twelve Councillors behind him.

The big guns, Kai realized, letting go off Bonnie so that he could stand in front of her. He felt her try to push him away, but he kept his arm firm on her, holding her back.

"Hello, Dad."

"It's over."

"So it seems."

And it was, he realized. He could have fought under any other circumstances. But he couldn't risk Bonnie.

Or their children.

"I want her returned to her family," he said now. "If you want me to come willingly, then you must give me a Mage's Oath that Bonnie will be given over to Sheila Bennett."

There was a murmur from the Councillors.

"You're not in any position to make demands, Malachai."

"But _we_ are."

The Gemini turned as one.

Sheila Bennett and Abby Bennett stepped through the doors. Power crackled around the two women, and the room was suddenly charged with electricity.

His message had reached them. No matter what happened, Kai thought with bittersweet relief, Bonnie was going to be safe.

* * *

It was her chance. She had to take it. She had to at least try.

The Gemini and the Bennetts faced off, not moving, not saying anything but making Bonnie call to mind a Mexican stand-off.

Now all they needed was one trigger happy witch.

Bonnie threw the spell, aiming for the lightning point over Joshua's head. It shattered, glass exploding into the air.

And the chain reaction followed. His hands shot up, one sending up a shield to protect him from the falling glass, while the other was aimed at her grandmother. Sheila sidestepped the blast almost lazily, sending it back to him as Abby also shot power from her fingers. Six Gemini crashed to the floor. And the other six closed ranks around their leader.

Kai was moving forward, his hands out to join the fight- on whose side she could only guess – when Bonnie drew him to her by the back of his shirt.

He turned to her in surprise.

"Now, Kai," she hissed. "Port us out of here!" A part of her felt guilty about leaving her mother and grandmother. But they were rugged old witches. They could handle themselves. They'd dust the Gemini, then make up with their cohorts later.

Light shone in Kai's eyes as realization dawned on him, then his hands had grabbed her shoulders and she could feel his magic pull…

And nothing. Nothing happened.

"Anti-apparition hex," he said through his teeth, his face straining. "Anti-cloaking hex, too," he added and cursed under his breath. "Come on, let's sneak out of here. Get a car. The hexes will spread out at least a mile around this place."

He grabbed her off the table and they started inching around the fight, hand in hand.

The lights were all gone by now, and the diner was lit by the occasional flash of a spell being fired. There was glass on the floor, and bodies to step around. Bonnie followed Kai closely, trusting him to guide her.

In between flashes, she could see that the Gemini were down to three now. Joshua was sending waves of power at the two women who were shoving it back at them. Bonnie noticed, with a pang of worry that her mother was looking strained.

 _Mom_ , she said quietly, stumbling as Kai pulled her through the doors that led to the alley.

Stepping out of the diner was like turning down the volume of a set. Suddenly the noise of battle seemed far away. Ahead of them, there was a sliver of light and Kai broke into a run in that direction.

"Come on!"

Bonnie jogged alongside him, her eyes fixed on the exit of the alley, where there would be a street, cars, and escape –

– and a strong hand gripped her ankle and yanked.

* * *

 **A/N** : Dun dun dun dun...

(OMG! So many reviews on the last chapter. You guys are the best. Thanks muchly! HUGS! And don't stop!)


	32. Wildcard

**Wildcard**

She shrieked as her hand slipped out of Kai's as she fell hard on the ground and she felt her body being dragged across the ground, back towards the diner door.

"Bonnie!" she heard Kai scream.

She was too winded to answer, to even yelp out her pain as a claw-like hand gripped her by the throat and lifted her, smashing her against the hard wall.

She heard Kai shouting a spell, and the claws around her throat tightened so that she started choking, her legs kicking air and the wall behind her.

 _My baby…_

Kai stopped chanting. "Stop it!"

"One wrong move, Gemini, and I will squeeze her head off her body."

Bonnie gasped, too numb to even feel pain, at the snarling pale face, clouded by smoky dark hair before her.

 _Anna_. The word creeped sluggishly through Bonnie's brain. _The vampire._

"Let her go," she heard Kai say, his voice breaking. " _Please_ …"

The vampire's hand stretched forward, striking like a hawk and Bonnie would have screamed if she wasn't choking, thinking the creature was aiming for her eyes.

Instead, she felt a sharp, choking pain around her throat – and then release, leaving behind a sting.

She blinked, her mind still slow, at the sight of a familiar necklace in the vampire's hand. Blinked at the wide, triumphant smile on the vampire's face, even as her eyes were screwed up in pain.

Then the hold on her throat loosened, and Bonnie collapsed to the ground, coughing and gasping.

Or would have collapsed to the ground, if Kai wasn't already there, his arms cushioning her.

"Bonnie, oh god," he muttered, drawing her to him as he rose to his feet. One hand cupped her neck, tenderly, then drifted to her womb.

The diner door blasted open.

Two things happened at the same time.

The roar of the battle filled Bonnie's ears, deafening her.

A blast of light seemed to smash into her and Kai, sending them flying in opposite directions. Kai – back into the alley; and her – back into the diner.

She seemed to move in slow motion, flying in an arc through the open door, across the diner, to smash into the drinks lined up behind the bar.

Something caught her before she landed, dampening her fall to a gentle thump on her feet on top of the bar table.

"Bonnie!" she heard her grandmother scream.

"Malachai!" Joshua roared.

She could barely make out the figures in the room, if they were fighting each other or standing still. But there was one figure she could see. Kai was running to her.

Running _back_!

"Kai! No!" she screamed. She tried to move, but a magical hold kept her in place. "I'll be fine! Get away!" And she threw her magic at him, shoving him all the way across the room.

He caught hold of the edge of the open doorway. "Bonnie!"

"Please! Kai!"

She saw him hesitate. Was praying against everything that he will take the chance and run.

Then she felt a storm of magic rush at her and she screamed, her shield rising at once. But it wasn't targeted at her but above her head, and she turned to see it hit the bottles behind her.

Everything happened in slow motion. She watched the bottles explode, glass and alcohol flying through the super-charged air, the liquid igniting as it rushed towards her.

She screamed as her shield shattered, and she raised her hands up to protect herself…

Then someone grabbed her, spinning with her and pushing her down with his whole body acting as her shield.

Even then she felt the impact through him when it hit, and both of them shouted. It wasn't a quick immediate explosion but rather, it seemed to stretch on and on. Glass, fire, the creak of wood breaking. And she knew it was magic as well as physics at work here. The strain of it shook through her over and over and over again until she could bear it no longer, slipping into unconsciousness as she felt Kai collapse as well over her body.

* * *

 **AN:** Did they make it? ::sniffs::


	33. Confinement

**Confinement**

It was lying on the floor by the bar. In the confusion as Abby gathered up her child, no one noticed when Sheila placed a cloak over the object, then straightened up.

Bonnie was unconscious in her mother's arms as the two ported out of the devastated diner.

Malachai was not – and his face as Bonnie vanished was a study in despair.

Sheila regarded the young man, and then his older, sterner version. Joshua Parker was staring after where Bonnie had vanished with greed in his eyes. He kept a one-armed grip on Malachai, and a staff in his other hand and he looked like if he was about to sacrifice his son.

The same son that had used his own body as a shield to protect Bonnie…

"Your actions almost caused my grand-daughter's life," she said now, and her voice echoed with the rage of the spirits.

Joshua's aura flared out instinctively, lines of power snapping like a millions guns cocking.

But his voice, when he spoke, was cool, collected. "Surely you realize now that the first shot was fired by her? She and Malachai were trying to incite us to battle each other, keep us distracted while they escaped and they half-succeeded."

"Still doesn't excuse whoever tried to harm Bonnie." And Sheila's eyes peered hard through the group of Gemini, trying to discern in any way that she could the culprit.

"My people had strict instructions to keep her safe. Whoever _vatosed_ the bar knew what they were doing. She was never in any danger."

Sheila glanced at Malachai and the blood that was pooling at his feet from the cuts that had landed on his back.

"They had their eye on Bonnie," Joshua repeated. "I gave them no special orders to protect _him_."

"And the vampire? The one that stole our ancestor's necklace? The one that you allied yourself with to find Bonnie?"

Some of Joshua's suaveness dissipated. "The creature approached me… offered to track them down since Kai's anti-tracking cloaking was spell-proof. In exchange, she asked for one of the spoils from battle and I had no idea what it's worth was–"

Sheila scoffed.

"–and in the end, we owed her nothing. We had already located Bonnie before she informed us of her whereabouts. Your grand-daughter used her magic uncloaked and we found her. Our alliance with the vampire was nullified, and she attacked Bonnie in a last-moment attempt to get what she wanted. She was also told not to harm Bonnie, another pact that she failed to keep. If we see the vampire again, we will have her killed."

"Too little, too late."

Joshua shrugged. His voice turned speculative. "Now regarding the unborn children…"

Sheila glared at him.

He shrugged his shoulders, in pseudo-harmlessness. "They are Gemini after all."

"Not for long," Sheila promised him. "They won't be long for this world."

Malachai started with a shout, his body jerking forward as he reached for Sheila with horror in his eyes, but he was weak, broken and his father pulled him back easily.

Joshua eyed Sheila with naked rage. "I don't suppose my coven has any say on this."

"No, you don't," Sheila snapped.

He kept glaring. Beside him, his son stared also. But the horror and rage had faded, leaving only despair.

Sheila eyed the Gemini Praetor back with intense dislike. "I think we have concluded our business then," she said in her normal voice.

Joshua Parker's aura quietened, menacingly. "It was a pleasure, as always."

Sheila's lips thinned. It would be the last time, if she had anything to say about it.

The Gemini fell into formation. Then they all ported, one by one.

Joshua and his son left last. Malachai Parker's empty eyes lingered in her sight, long after she left.

It was the last time Sheila ever saw him.

But she would think about him for a long time after.

She waved her hand, and the knife appeared in the ground. She bent down and picked it up. Even now, she could feel the warmth of Josette Parker's magic oozing out of the blade.

* * *

The pocket worlds were an invention made long before the time of Emily and Emmanuelle, long before the name the world knew them by was Bennett, when they were simply called Ayanna's Children.

Long ago, the knowledge of its making had been borrowed, or stolen, maybe even commissioned – the truth was lost to history – by the Gemini coven and bastardized into a prison. But its original form, and purpose, was an art that had still been passed down the descendants of Ayanna from generation to generation.

And it was the easiest thing for the two women, mother and daughter, working together in tandem and much longer than they ever had in the past, to build now.

It was a limited dimension, where time went on as normal, but stood still outside it. So one could spend an indefinite amount of time there, and then return to the real world as if no time had passed at all.

It was the perfect place for Bonnie Bennett to spend the remaining months of her confinement.

She had recovered consciousness from the battle after a few days. Abby had prolonged her awakening for as long as she safely could because she knew Bonnie's wrath would be entirely for her.

Eventually, they had to wake her and they had to face her wrath.

It was a very good thing that they had leashed her magic first.

"Where is Kai?" That was the first question she asked.

"He's gone."

"What do you mean gone?" Bonnie snapped.

"Precisely what it sounds like," Abby retorted, staring down at the girl while Sheila drifted away, in the room but outside the conversation.

They were in the world's version of Sheila's study at Whitmore. Bonnie had easily grasped the concept of pocket-worlds – something that Abby suspected, to her fury, had a lot to do with her daughter's time with Kai.

"I am going to find him eventually," Bonnie said now, with a smirk on her face that her mother longed to slap off. "I did it before and I'll do it again. So if you ever want to see me again, you'd better make it easier on yourself and tell me where he is."

Sheila gasped.

Abby glared at her daughter and Bonnie glared right back.

"I'm telling her."

Bonnie's triumphant smiled faded when she realized that her mother's declaration wasn't directed at her but for Sheila who was suddenly part of the conversation.

"No, Abby. You can't. The babies."

"I don't care about them. I care about her. My daughter. Who wants to throw her life away for a criminal!"

"B-babies. C-criminal," Bonnie stammered. "W-what…? I d-don't…" She stared down at her stomach, now with a small, but distinct bulge, like if it was something outside of herself. "Am I expecting twins?"

Abby smiled unpleasantly. "Just how much of his coven did your precious Kai tell you about?"

Bonnie had been thrown, but she still held on to her bravado. "Enough. Look, you're not going to poison my mind against Kai, OK? Nothing you can ever tell me will make me stop loving him or wanting him so you should quit trying!"

"Good," Abby said grimly and she walked away.

Bonnie had barely breathed a sigh of relief when her mother was back, with a chair. She sat on it and pulled it close.

"So if nothing I say will make any difference… this would just be an interesting story, won't it?"

Something in her mother's voice chilled Bonnie to the bone. "No, I don't want to hear it." She made to stand up by her mother grabbed her shoulders and yanked her in place.

 _"Sit down!"_

"Abby!" Sheila snapped.

"She needs to know," Abby said, holding firmly to her squirming daughter. "She needs to hear the truth."

Sheila hesitated, then nodded silently. Bonnie turned to look at her, betrayal filling her face. But she stopped struggling.

The look on Bonnie's face as she glared at Abby made it clear that if she could touch her magic, she'd have burnt her way out of this place. Starting with her mother.

Abby recognized it and clenched her jaw against it. Now was not the time to be sentimental.

"So, I'm going to tell you a story. Starting from when I was a young girl. Did Kai ever mention that his twin sister and I were good friends?" At Bonnie's startled look, Abby nodded grimly. "Yes, Bonnie. There's a lot about Malachai Parker that you can't even imagine. And I'm going to tell you all of it."

* * *

Joshua Parker had performed a Revelation spell the moment they were in the Gemini compound, searing through his son's head until all the fragments of memory from 2008 to 2012 formed a complete picture.

It finally made sense now, he realized, watching as the other witches casted around the unconscious figure of his son, curled in a fetal position in the center of the pentagram etched into the floor.

Kai was still in the 1994 prison world. And _this_ Kai was from the future, an interloper who had somehow harnessed Traveller's magic to arrive at this time, no doubt with the plan of finding his sister and completing what he started on May 10, 1994, impregnating Sheila Bennett's grand-daughter to harness the Bennett lineage and consolidate his own powers.

There were still holes in the story, some things that needed explaining. But Joshua had had enough.

It was only when the cell was complete, and Joshua had used Gemini ancestral magic to seal it shut that he pulled Malachai out of his trance.

The prison was basically a magical detention cell. Not an indefinite punishment just somewhere for Joshua to build the device he would need to send Malachai back. But Joshua had turned a simple holding cell into something a little bit more… appropriate.

Malachai's cell was slightly larger than a box, and the time within it repeated hourly, his physical body with it. He would start each cycle without ever getting hungrier, or thirstier or more tired than he was during the start of the previous one. Conversely, he could not be any more satisfied, or rested than he was previously. And just like a real prison world, he could not die, not if he took his own life.

It was an abominable punishment.

Fitting, Joshua thought grimly, for an abomination.

* * *

Bonnie refused to believe them. Nothing they did or said could make her.

Abby showed her a yearbook – easily found in their empty pocket world.

 _Magic_ , Bonnie said simply.

Abby showed her newspaper clippings.

 _Magic_ , Bonnie retorted.

Abby showed her graves.

 _Magic!_ Bonnie screamed. Why won't they just quit it?

She had tried at first to escape, but her magic refused to be coaxed out. Certain ideas came to her mind, all with the same recurring pattern of endangering herself but Bonnie could not work up the courage to risk it. Not when she was responsible for not just one life, or two – but three.

Twins.

She spoke to them, often. She gave them names – Luke and Leia – like the Skywalkers – and told them about their father.

So did that make Kai Darth Vader? Bonnie asked herself, worriedly. Then pushed the thought out of her head.

She thought of him all the time, and tried hard not to because it _hurt_. It ripped through her like an open wound and she bled pain and couldn't stop. She missed him. She could barely sleep at night and it wasn't just because of her changing body. She kept asking her mother and grandmother where he was, if he was safe, if the Gemini would harm him or… worse. But they told her nothing.

They had thrown him into a prison before and he had escaped. He would get out again, Bonnie told herself. When this was over, she would find him.

Unless the Gemini decided not to waste their time with prisons… Unless they decided to punish him more permanently…

But when Bonnie thought like this, her brain shut down and she had to stop. She had to be strong. Not for her own sake but for his children.

She grew bigger as time passed, but only around the waist. Hers was not a put-your-feet up confinement but a taxing one, as her mother and grandmother took turns to keep her busy, with the gardening, with outdoor chores, and with long walks to the Temple that Sheila had magically added to their landscape.

That, her grandmother told Bonnie, was where the children would be born.

* * *

In this pocket world, two seasons passed – Summer and Autumn – and Bonnie went from tending the green, living plants in the garden to raking in their dead, rust-colored leaves.

Then winter came. And the cold kept them indoors. It was real snow and Bonnie watched it fall in fascination.

"If I get caught in a whiteout and die, what happens to me?"

Sheila looked up from her writing, Abby looked up from her kitchen and both of them gave Bonnie piercing worried glances.

"Why are you asking such a morbid question?" Sheila asked, sternly.

Bonnie looked up from where she had been sitting in front of the fire, drawing patterns for Health and Calm on the skin over her tightly stretched womb. She was so big now, that she could barely see over its top when she lay back.

"I'm just curious. Both of you decided to hide my magic from me all my life. I have a lot of catching up to do." Her words were simple enough but her voice was cold with anger.

"So we're monsters for trying to get a better life for you. Can you just hate us quietly? I'm tired of this conversation, Bonnie," Abby snapped.

"Does Dad even know about this?" Bonnie prodded, her voice getting nastier. "Is he a witch, too?"

"Didn't your precious Malachai tell you that?" Abby retorted, her voice just as malicious as her daughter's.

"Abigail," Sheila said sharply.

"No. You didn't give us enough time together to sift through all your lies!" Bonnie yelled.

"The only person in this room that is lying is you – to yourself. I've told you the truth about that man. You still insist on clinging to this stupid loyalty you have for him."

"I love him! He's the father of my children!"

"If you love him so much, why didn't you _tell_ him about the children?"

Bonnie recoiled.

The silence that followed was as loud as a thunderclap.

Sheila's eyes were boring holes into her daughter's face. Then she turned to the stricken Bonnie. "Bonnie…"

"I-I was going to tell him. T-there never seemed to be the right time. There wasn't enough time," she managed, muttered.

"You didn't want him to know," Abby pressed. "It had nothing to do with timing."

"T-that's not true."

"Deep down, you must have known. You had to have known what he was."

Realization dawned on Sheila and she stared at her granddaughter's miserable, shaky face.

"How did the Gemini find you?" Sheila asked.

Bonnie recoiled. "That vampire girl… she had been tracking us…"

"The Gemini didn't need her in the end, Joshua said. They already had a trace on you. You did something to reveal yourself to them."

Bonnie threw a fearful, glance at Sheila. "I didn't…"

"I just thought that meant Kai had slipped up with his cloaking but it was you, all along. You used magic when he wasn't around to shield you. Why?"

Bonnie stared at her defiantly for a few minutes. Then her face crumpled.

Abby stared from her daughter, to her mother. "I-I don't understand. You led them to you? I thought… Why?" Her voice was filled with confusion.

Bonnie shook her head, still crying.

Because she was a Bennett, Sheila realized grimly. Deep down, she must have known. There was no way she could have reached this level of intimacy with Malachai Parker without seeing a glimpse of his inner demons. And she had – maybe subconsciously – maybe not – she had slipped up for a reason.

"I can't. I-I can't."

She got up then, pushing back her sobs. She stumbled as she walked around the chair. "It hurts so much."

And her mother's arms were around her, holding Bonnie. "Oh my poor child."

"I loved him so much. I _love_ him so much. Why would you think I'd do such a thing? Why would I do such a thing to him?"

And Sheila's heart swelled with pride at her daughter because rather than Abby saying a word, she just hugged her child and kissed her hair.

"It hurts so much, Mom."

"I know it does my dear. It'll get better. I promise you."

"I don't think I can bear it!" Bonnie cried, gasping.

"Bonnie, please be strong-"

Bonnie tried to yank away, but Abby held firm. The girl threw her head back, and screamed.

Sheila was already at her granddaughter's side. And she and Abby held firm, their magic rushing at once to form a protective shield, thin like silk and just as strong, over Bonnie.

"It's time," Abby said.

Bonnie cried – not with pain now – but shock. "No. No, I'm not ready. I need him. I need Kai. Please…" And she screamed again as another contraction took her. "I'm not ready!"

"Yes. Yes, you are," Sheila whispered.

* * *

Magic woke him up. It called him, roaring his name. And he opened his eyes to his new hell.

It was pitch dark, and he could feel his eyes growing larger the longer he stayed. Which was for an interminable amount of time that he had no means of measuring. He tried measuring the length of his prison, but gave up when he realized that he had come full circle back to the edge of the wall he had started from. It didn't take him long to realize that he never got hungry or tired because the cell reset itself frequently. Perhaps as frequently as a few hours, maybe even one.

And the magic that had woken him? It must have been calling the wrong Kai because there was no magic here. Just himself. His thoughts. His demons.

After having come so close to getting everything he wanted, he had lost everything. The coven. His birth-right. His magic.

Bonnie.

Their children.

For the first time in almost two decades, Malachai Parker wept.

* * *

 **author's note:**

 _passes box of tissues as I whisper: 'you can hate me in the reviews, i deserve it.' ::sniffs::_


	34. The Coming of the Gemini

**The Coming of the Gemini**

Bonnie's own magic was loose, had been ripping through the temple for long moments now. Half of the hangings on the wall were on the floor, while the other half floated on the ceiling. With every scream, the walls and floor shook.

"You're almost there…"

"Oh god, I can't do this. I can't."

"You can. It's almost over."

Bonnie stared despairingly at her grandmother, then turned instinctively to the other woman beside her. "I'm scared, Mommy. I'm so scared."

Abby's face was streaked with tears, and they mingled with the sweat and tears on Bonnie's when she pressed her cheek to her daughter's. "My brave girl, I'm right here. You can do this."

"I want Kai," Bonnie cried, sobbing uncontrollably as she broke her word. "I want Kai. Please, Mommy."

"Oh baby," Abby said, and she wrapped her arm around her daughter, rocking her.

They stayed like that for barely a moment before another contraction ripped through Bonnie and she screamed, her hands and knees trembling.

"Use the pain," Sheila said, her strong hands kneading Bonnie's shoulders with warmth and magic. "They're coming now and they'll come fast. Use the pain, don't hesitate."

" _I can't_ -"

"I'm here, Bonnie," Abby cooed, her own magic mingling with her mother's as her fingers brushed against Sheila's on Bonnie's skin. For a brief moment, the three essences mingled, became one single aura of brilliant power.

Then Bonnie screamed again and – another voice joined her. Tiny, but shrill and strong.

Sheila had been the one to catch it and now, she stared in delight at the screaming little face, small fists flailing in rage against the world. And already – its magic reaching for its mother.

Bonnie screamed again and this time, Abby caught the second child. She passed the baby over to Sheila without even glancing at it, and – before Sheila could voice the protest that had only just risen to the tip of her tongue – Abby started casting.

* * *

Bonnie stared in horror at her mother's and grandmother's faces. Her own head felt heavy and thick, her vision hazy. The physical pain had gone so abruptly she barely remembered it. Because she was consumed now with a soul-wracking pain that threatened to destroy her.

She had thought that losing Kai had meant the end of the world.

That was a joke compared to what she felt now.

"My babies… gone?"

"I'm so sorry, Bonnie," Abby whispered.

"But I thought… I thought I heard a cry?"

Abby shook her head. "My poor little girl." She leaned to stroke Bonnie's hair. "You passed out. You heard nothing."

Bonnie flinched.

Abby drew her hand back. "They never even breathed. Their own magic took their souls. It was peaceful, Bonnie. It was a kind death."

Desperately, Bonnie turned to Sheila. Her grandmother looked away, but not before Bonnie glimpsed the expression on her face.

Bonnie started sobbing.

"My babies died… and it was _kind_?"

"They never should have been born. Their father didn't belong in this world, this time, and this was nature's way of correcting that."

"Oh god, Abby. My babies are dead and you're talking to me about the _balance of nature_?" Bonnie screamed.

"Bonnie-"

"Get away from me! You're a liar! You killed them, didn't you? The same way you killed Kai! I know you did!"

"Bonnie, I could never-"

" _I hate you!_ I hate you so much! Get away from me _! My babies, oh my god, my babies!_ "

And she was sobbing so hard, she thought her heart would break. _Oh please let me die, please let me die_ , Bonnie cried.

Abby had succeeded in getting her arms around her and Bonnie struggled, trying to get away, her hands striking at her mother anywhere they could land. Somewhere, someone was chanting… and slowly, the words threw her back into darkness.

* * *

 **author's note:**

:: _abby is creepy hardcore:: RIP BK babies::_


	35. Time to pay the Piper…

**Time to pay the Piper…**

Kai had no idea how long he had been inside that cell. There was no way of knowing day from night. He wondered if they were going to keep him there forever.

In the end, he had exchanged one prison for another.

He kept himself sane by thinking about Bonnie. Remembering everything about her – her skin, her lips, her warmth, her love. He clung to the last desperately. He had no hope that she would find him. That she'd be able to rescue him. He had no hope of ever seeing her again. But he had had her love, for a time. Bonnie Bennett had loved him – and no one would ever take that away from him.

One day, light poured into his cell – and he opened his eyes to suddenly find himself, not in the cage, but in a field of orange trees.

He was sitting against a tree, watching the purple skies and green clouds and wondering what was so strange about all of this.

"Malachai."

Kai looked up. For half of a heartbeat he thought he was staring at Bonnie. Then he realized that she was too tall, too fair-skinned, too old, and in fact, looked nothing at all like Bonnie. But he did recognize her – had known this woman a long time ago – and with that, he realized he was in the middle of an illusion.

Abby Bennett.

"Hello, Abby. Fancy bumping into you here."

"You disgusting worm," was her response to his courteous greeting.

Kai laughed. "I ought to get a book of some sort, keep tabs. Although, it might be easier to write down the people who don't hate me than the ones who do." His laughter stopped abruptly. "At the moment, I can only think of one person who doesn't wish me dead. And that person is so amazing that she pretty much tips the scale completely."

Abby's hands clenched into fists and he knew that if they were in the real world now, she'd be pummeling him with magic.

There was no love lost between them. Kai had never gotten along with any of the witches his own age. It was quite simple, really: They had magic and he envied them; he was a magic-leech and they feared him. He had been particularly antagonistic towards his sister's cliché of Great Family witches, and Abby, as a Bennett, had been Queen Bee of that group so Kai had hated her the most.

Life really was one big joke and he was the punchline.

He hated to ask, to show even a smidgen of vulnerability but he couldn't help himself.

"H-how's Bonnie?"

Abby gave him a look that could crush a hill.

Kai cleared his throat. "I've been enjoying my forced vacation so much, I have no idea how long's it's been since… ever. I'm guessing you know about the bun in the oven." He cracked a grin. "Specifically my bun in Bonnie's oven."

Abby did rush him then – her fist aiming for his jaw…

…and passing right through it.

It was the most basic of illusions, he realized. They couldn't even interact with each other.

"You will never know, Malachai," she hissed, venom thick in her voice. "You will never see her again and you will never lay your eyes on _them_."

The news hit him like a spear in the gut and he staggered back. " _Them_? Twins?"

Abby grimaced. "Predictable. I can see your sick brain already scheming on how to use your own flesh and blood."

"T-that's not. I'm not…" His head was spinning, his heart racing. He rushed to her, tried to grab her arms but once again, there was no contact. "I need to see Bonnie. I need to tell her things. About Gemini twins. _Parker_ twins. There's so much she has to know."

Abby looked at him with contempt. "She has my mother and me. Bonnie will be fine."

"Dammit, Abby! I'm supposed to be with her!"

"You're a monster! You have no more right to my child than a … a snake has to a dove."

"Please," and it was strange how easy it was to say the word when the motivation was strong enough, when the motivation was as overpowering at it was right now, " _I am begging you_. A day. An hour. A phone call. _Please_ , Abby."

Something like satisfaction filled Abby's face and for one stupid moment, Kai thought she was backing down.

Stupid.

"You don't understand, do you? You're not just going to never see Bonnie and your twins again, Malachai. We're not just taking them from you, Malachai. We're going to take away the _memory_ of them from you."

Kai's blood turned to ice. "No. You can't."

"We can and we will. By the time we're done with you, you'll forget _everything_ about your time here, that you had this time with Bonnie, that you had these children with her. It'll be, to you, like this all never happened."

He could barely hear her over the sound of rushing in his ears, barely see past the red haze at the edges of his vision.

"You can't do that!"

She said nothing, just stared him down with a face made hard with anger.

He started pacing furiously, pulling at his hair as he tried to think of something – anything – that could stop this. "What about Bonnie? Are you going to take her memories of us, too?"

"The moment the children are born. Yes."

He almost fell, tripping over his own feet. " _How can you do that?_ " he roared. "She's having my children. What possible reason or story could you give to explain how she …" His voice trailed off. "No," he said, a whisper at first. When he saw the satisfaction in Abby's face, the grim pleasure she took at him finally figuring the full extent of her retribution, he shouted – screamed. "NO!"

"Bonnie will never see those children. Those abominations of yours will be destroyed before they draw breath."

He recoiled. " _No! You can't do that!_ "

"To save my child? I can and I will."

"You'd kill children? _Babies?_ " he asked hoarsely. "How are you better then? _How the fuck are you better than me_?"

Abby's lip curled. "Malachai Parker cannot father _children_. He spawns monsters. I will be doing the world a favor. My daughter will remember nothing of them, of _you_ ," she spat. "Imagine their lives as payment for every day, every hour, every second that _you stole from my daughter_!"

He tried to grasp her, curl his hands around her throat, strangle her where she stood, but his fingers clutched air. "It's too much magic," he said, desperately. "You'll never be able to pull it off. There'll be cracks, there'll be inconsistencies. You'll drive her mad!"

"Between my mother, myself, and the sacrifice of your children, we have the power."

And that was it. It was over. That was the last card he had to play and he had lost.

Kai fell to his knees, his shoulders shaking. "I love her." And it _hurt_ him that he could say it now when he knew Bonnie would never hear it. "She loves me and I love her."

Abby scoffed.

"You don't understand," he pleaded, fingers grasping at the phantom grass. "I have never loved anyone in my life and had that love returned to me. Don't take that away from me. Don't destroy our children. _I am begging you_."

"You're a monster. You're not capable of love. You used my daughter for your sick games. I am just glad that I've found a way to save her and hurt you at the same time."

"I'm going to find a way," he vowed, more to himself than to her. "I will find a way to remember. You'd better kill me, Abby and whoever else is in on this. Because when I do, I will come after you. Then I will come for Bonnie, and we'll avenge our children together."

For the first time, Abby laughed and it was a sad, bitter sound. "We're sending you back where you came from, Kai. Good luck finding a Bonnie that loves you there."

The field vanished and Kai was back in his cell. Alone. And filled with despair.

They were sending him back. To a world where Bonnie hated him. Where she had no good memory of him but violence and betrayal. They were _murdering_ his and Bonnie's children, tangible proof of their love together like so much collateral waste.

And they weren't even going to let him keep his memories.

He sprang to his feet, and raged. Throwing everything he could against the walls, against the ground, everything including himself. He had no idea how the red haze of fury lasted but at the end of it, he was curled up on the fall, a shaking, tear-streaked wreck.

 _I won't give up. I won't. No matter what it takes. No matter how long it takes. I will find a way to remember. And I will make Bonnie do, too._

* * *

 **a/n:** pretty sure it's obvious but i just wanted to make it clear that the chapter title is kinda based on the story of the pied piper who (eventually) took his payment in children. so you can kinda say that kai paid for his time-travelling and bout of freedom with his kids.

...

(petty)

i remember very clearly asking if i shouldn't end the story on a happy note and y'all told me to 'go on! bring on the angst! bring on the pain! we can handle it!'. so i just gotta ask y'all...

 ** _how do you like me now?_**

 _muahahahahahaha!_


	36. In Memorian

**Author's Note** : It took me a while to realise that everyone was freaking out in the reviews because the story was marked as complete. **This story is not completed!** Still a couple chapters left and you'll know it's ended because it will tie into the start/"real time". I must have accidentally marked it as complete when I was doing the same for some other stories of mine. Sorry for the panic! It is almost done anyway  & since I'm going full-steam-ahead to finish up my shorter fan-fiction stories, you can send in requests on what story you'd like to see completed next.

* * *

 **In Memorian**

The Memoria spell was Bonnie's only chance.

First, the three Bennetts had to leave the pocket world, because the spell was useless there. A sleeping spell kept Bonnie docile in her bed while they slowly gathered the ingredients in Sheila's house.

The house was exactly as it was a few months ago – in real time, not a moment had passed between when they left it and now.

They did the first part of the spell and then, they waited.

That was the second thing. There was only so much magic could do. Bonnie had to heal. Emotionally and physically, her mind and soul were a mess.

Her mother and grandmother were with her every step of the way during those horrible two months. Two months of nightmares, of not eating, of screaming in her sleep, then sobbing during the day.

The time she managed to get away from them, and stood at the edge of the roof, looking down, until Sheila had found her and, trembling through it all, used magic to pull her back.

But finally the two months were gone, and they completed the Memoria spell. It was complicated, delicate, dangerous magic and they ran the risk of losing Bonnie completely if they made even the slightest mistake, if they overestimated how ready she was to withstand it.

But they had to do it. If either her grandmother or her mother had had any doubts, the last two months dispelled them. There was absolutely no way this child could survive with the memories of what had happened to her the past year – even though it was really just a few months in the real world – since Kai Parker had come into her life, and infested it with his poison.

The spell was Bonnie's only hope.

* * *

Bonnie was whistling in the kitchen when Sheila came downstairs the next morning.

Breakfast was already made – all of Sheila's favorites – and the girl was all smiles. "Morning, Grams," she said with the shy, pleased smile of someone who knew she'd been exceptionally good and was waiting to be praised.

"Bonnie," Sheila whispered, clutching at her chest.

The girl blinked. "Are you OK, Grams?"

Sheila shook her head, mutely and she stretched out her arms.

Bonnie went into them at once, her face knotted with concern when she pulled back. "Grams?"

Sheila blinked back tears. "I'm fine," she said finally. "I'm just… happy to see you again."

The concern fled, leaving wry humor. "You make it sound like if you didn't see me last night," she quipped.

The shining simple trust in her eyes made Sheila quiver. It had been ages since she had seen such a look on Bonnie's face.

Sheila looked at the spread on the table to distract herself. "What's the occasion?"

"It's the last week of summer," Bonnie said, cheerfully. "Can you believe it? I have no idea what I've done with the time. Ooops, the muffins!" She pulled back to rush to the oven.

Sheila sank into the chair and clasped her hands together.

It had worked. Bonnie was back. Bonnie was fine.

Joshua Parker would keep the Gemini's end of the bargain, Sheila would see to that. Bonnie would leave the rest of her life and never know what happened this summer. She'd be safe and happy, and at peace.

 _A single, simple memory…_

 _A knife, buried in the stump of a tree, laced with a very, special spell…_

Sheila shook her head, shied away from the thoughts that had been haunting her these past two months, even as she shied away from the memory of two pairs of eyes – brown and slate-blue – staring up at her with innocence.

Sheila watched Bonnie gasp over her slightly burnt muffins, and flit around the kitchen looking for something to salvage them.

She had got her grand-daughter back. No price had been too high for that. Not even Bonnie's own children.

* * *

Kai never thought he would miss 1994. But after the devil knew how long he had been in this box, he now did. There were times where he didn't bother to open his eyes, because there was nothing to see. Didn't bother to get up from the pad he slept on, because there was nowhere to go.

And the hunger. He was never hungry – and yet, he was always hungry. Not because he was starving but because he missed the _taste_ of food, and a part of him that seemed to sink deeper and deeper every day, longed for the taste of Bonnie.

Sometimes, he wondered if they had already sent him back and if he was dead. There was no Other Side anymore. Was he in Hell?

Sometimes he wondered if he had always been in this box, always alive, but never living. Perhaps his family was a dream of his? Jo, his mother, his father, his six other siblings… Did he dream them? Or where they real?

Bonnie couldn't have been real, could she? How could his bleak, empty existence have ever held such light?

And then one day, there was a change. He turned his head – whether he was asleep or he was awake, he didn't know, it made no difference – and he looked towards the light.

A familiar looking man was walking towards him, a ball of light in his palm. Kai couldn't look at the light for too long, his eyes were already tearing. So he stared up into his father's face.

Joshua Parker crouched so he was at a level height with his son.

"You might like to know that we found Jo. She was half-way around the world by the time we caught up with her. We fixed her memories, too. As far as she knows, you never found her, never tried to merge with her."

Jo. Bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh, his enemy from the womb. So she was real?

"I just have one question, Malachai. Jo had been back for days, travelling across the States, before we found you. You could have gone for her, forced her to do the merge and won. What made you wait?"

Kai's mind grappled with the question – there were so many things in it that he no longer understood. It was as if his father was speaking another language.

"The Traveller's spell may not have been able to sustain such a drastic break in the timeline… or it may have, who knows? It's not like you to fear a little risk to get what you want?"

His father's words barely made sense. Had Kai really found Jo? Had he really been a hair's breath from merging with her, claiming the coven, and the authority to keep Bonnie and his children safe?

Had he really stood at the cross-roads between love and power, and taken the wrong turn?

Kai opened his mouth to speak. He had to swallow several times and still his words just came out in a croak.

His father flickered his other hand, and suddenly his throat was clear.

"I hadn't… decided… yet…to… merge…"

"You hadn't decided?" Joshua asked, incredulously. "I was positive you had been waiting impatiently, only the risk of losing your magic stopping you from going after her and forcing the merge? What could possibly have made you not-" His words cut off abruptly.

Even with his eyes closed, Kai could feel the weight of his father's stare on his face.

"I've given up trying to understand you, Malachai."

"Did you ever try?" Kai wondered aloud, almost to himself. It was a pointless question, and both of them knew it.

"What are you going to do with me?"

Abby's words were the one thing he never forgot, but a part of him was still hopeful…

"We are sending you back."

And the light in his father's hand start swelling, growing larger and larger until Kai had no way to avoid it – it pierced through his tightly shut lids and filled his shut eyes with brightness.

"Goodbye, Malachai."

The voice was distant, disembodied.

He was floating in the sphere of light. Alone. Where his father was, he didn't know nor did he care. Maybe Joshua had forgotten the other part of Abby's revenge… His memories, he still had them. He could still take them, use them to find Bonnie, to make her remember…

Then pain like a hammer smashed into the head and he screamed with agony. Suddenly the light was no longer white but red, the color of blood. He was swimming in blood, and dark shadows that slipped out of the wound in his skull and floated out of his reach.

In the depths of one, he saw an image of Bonnie's smile the day he taught her to make fire. In another, he saw the look on her face when he licked jam off her fingers.

His memories.

"No!" he shouted – thought – and reached for it, and another blow rammed into his skull and he screamed again. The black shadows were slipping out faster now and when he caught them, they clung to his fingers like slime and slipped away.

Soon the light wasn't red again, but black once more, and he was shouting and screaming as the agony in his brain and the agony of his loss took turns in driving him mad.

* * *

Kai was standing at the beginning of a tunnel. It was a clear day with a bright purple sun in a yellow sky, and the blue leaves were falling up into the green clouds. The tunnel was suffused with light of a color he didn't have a name for, and it seemed to beckon him.

He looked back at the quiet, peaceful glade he was leaving. He had left something behind, he felt – knew instinctively. Something important. Something… _precious_ …

For a moment, he hesitated, torn between the overwhelming urge to answer the tunnel's call and step into it – and the equally strong one to go back and find what he had lost.

But the more he tried to remember, the more he seemed to forget, and the nearer he drifted to the kaleidoscope opening. Soon he was a foot away from the tunnel and was berating himself for stalling.

Possessions, he decided. They were always such a nuisance because people tended to get attached to them. In the end, they were just things. Things got lost. They got stolen. They got destroyed.

How stupid.

He turned his back on the glade, and didn't notice that the green clouds were now pouring out a purple rain, almost as if they were weeping, as he stepped into the tunnel.

* * *

 **a/n:** Reviews keep me motivated and happy so please send some. Thanks! Don't forget to also send in requests as to which of my un-completed stories you'd like me to finish next. (Not Long Shadows, though. Everything else.)


	37. The More Things Change, The More They…

**The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same**

Summer was ending and Mystic Falls was already feeling the chill.

The two girls walked to their tables, with their trays full of food and bags full of Fall shopping, talking animatedly.

"So it's still a big mystery," said the petite one with dark curls as she pulled up a chair and sat down.

"Not to me," quipped the tall blonde, sitting across from her friend. "The shop clearly sent you two fairy costumes, by mistake."

"I thought so, right? But I wrote to them and they wrote back to tell me they only sent one outfit. They checked and double-checked their inventory and everything."

"Your dumb luck, I guess."

"I tell you, Caroline. It's magic!" Bonnie declared, her eyes widening dramatically.

Caroline snorted, laughing even harder when Bonnie scowled at not being taken seriously.

"So what happened to mystery guy anyway?"

Bonnie gave Caroline the side eye as she sipped her tall glass of pina colada.

Caroline gasped in exasperation. "Come on, Bonnie! It's been the whole summer. At least a month before that, too, if I'm guessing right. Isn't it time you spill on who he was?"

"Care, you sure your drink isn't spiked?"

"Ha ha." Caroline scowled.

A silent moment passed – a serene moment for Bonnie and an increasingly irritated one for Caroline.

"So you're really not going to tell me, are you, Bonnie?"

Bonnie sighed. "Care, there's nothing to tell. I spent the summer with my Grams. All the cute co-eds were on vacation. The only people around Whitmore were middle-aged part-time students. My Grams made me proof-read her Women's Lib notes. For free!" She shuddered and mimed the old woman's gravelly voice. "'To build character.'"

Caroline sniggered.

"It was such a snorefest, I was actually _glad_ when Dad finally got back and I could go home. I _wish_ I had a hot, passionate summer fling!"

Caroline's face was filled with surprise. "If I didn't know better, I'd swear you were telling the truth."

" _If_ …?" Bonnie started getting genuinely angry.

"Hey guys!"

The girls looked up at Matt and Tyler walking towards them. Tyler gave Bonnie a strange look, that she returned uneasily. Since she got back home, Bonnie found herself actively avoiding Tyler Lockwood for reasons she couldn't explain. They had never been close friends but there was a strain between them that had literally appeared overnight.

"Have you guys spoken to Elena?"

Something in Matt's grave voice – and graver face – sent alarm bells ringing in Bonnie's head.

"No," Caroline said, not picking up on the sudden tension in the air. "What's up?"

"There was an accident on Wickery Bridge…"

* * *

 **a/n** : thanks for the reviews for the last chapter. :) i'm still polling the "votes" for the next story i should complete so remember to mention that in your review. (don't forget that long shadows "votes" don't count. i love that it's so popular but i'm always writing it alongside another shorter/simpler story - or i won't ever write anything else! lol.)


	38. Failsafe

**Failsafe**

 _A single, simple memory…_

They looked so peaceful, so innocent, so _untainted_.

They were two ticking magical time bombs.

Over the crib, the two Bennett women locked their hands, forming a circle with their arms.

"Are you sure of this?" For the first time in _years_ , Sheila Bennett wavered with doubt.

Abby nodded grimly. "I'm sure. I spoke to him. Underneath the acting and the lies, he's still the same boy that bullied and tortured Jo for years and finally gutted her with a knife. If there was a way I could kill him without consequences, I would." She eyed the contents of the crib with darkness in her eyes. "If there was a way I could kill _them_ without consequences, I would."

"These are innocent, though," Sheila reminded her. "They may be his, but they are Bonnie's most of all."

"They are hers, all right. Her _chains_. The ones he placed on her. Do you think he didn't know what he was doing? Do you think this wasn't his plan all along?"

A few weeks ago, Sheila would have said the same thing. But she remembered…

 _Kai flying across the room to shield Bonnie from the brunt of the spell. Lying on the floor, half-dead and screaming for her to leave him, to get to safety._

How Sheila wished she hadn't witnessed that. How desperately she wished she could just go back to thinking that Malachai was pure evil and not wonder if he – if this situation – wasn't as simple as she once thought.

She looked at her daughter, standing tall and resolute before her and envied Abby her conviction. Abby had seen the same thing and it hadn't bent her. Abby had heard Joshua's last message – the question they had all wondered – why had Kai turned away from the chance to merge with Jo? And the answer hadn't bent her either.

Sheila hadn't bent, either. But a part of her – a small, strong part – had wavered enough to do what she did.

Now she looked into the crib, and she thought of Josette Parker's knife, recovered from the battle in the diner. Of the single memory she had woven into its dormant magic, before she restored it back to the tree stump where it would lie in wait for the next 5 years.

A single memory.

And even then, Malachai would need to find his sister's knife, give her magic back to her, merge with her, win the merge and her magic…

Find a way out of that Prison World that was built to house him for an eternity… Find Bonnie…

All to get that one single memory that _might_ – _if_ he let himself go down the rabbit hole – lead him and Bonnie to the truth that two powerful bloodlines had connived to keep from them.

The odds of all this happening were incredible but maybe that was the point. The method in the madness was magic.

No matter how much she would try to protect Bonnie – and try, Sheila would until her dying breath – Bonnie was a Bennett. And she needed a fail-safe.

If Kai was Bonnie's fate, if they were meant to be… then they would be.

"This doesn't have to be our decision," Sheila said now, and she knew her words were weak. Her daughter would not be moved. Her daughter would be infuriated if she knew what Sheila had done. "Perhaps we should just tell Joshua they are alive, hand them over to the Gemini coven. Let them decide."

Abby scoffed. "Joshua Parker is devious and ambitious. Do you honestly think he will not find away to exploit their Bennett lineage? Can you trust him not to someday exploit _Bonnie_ with them? To teach them to do the same?"

" _They_ are still innocent…"

"Nothing good can come from that boy."

"He doesn't matter," Sheila insisted. "Abby, if you – if we do this – there will be consequences, you know that, don't you? We will be…"

There was no one word. Damned. Jinxed. Lord knew that the Bennetts already had more than their fair share of bad karma but this…

Abby raised her head to stare at her mother. Her eyes were almost burning with resolve. "You think I am a horrible mother and maybe I am, but I will unleash hell itself before I allow my daughter to be bound to that monster. I will pay the price, whatever it is, to keep Bonnie safe." She yanked at her hands, trying to break out of her mother's grip. "I will do this by myself if I have to."

Sheila held firm. "No, you can't." She sighed. "Let us begin."

Giving Sheila one last distrustful look, Abbie closed her eyes and started chanting.

After a half-second, Sheila joined her, echoing her daughter's words and their magic started coiling in a sphere between them, growing and growing until its denseness caused it to descend and pour into crib.

Inside the little bed, the two tiny babies woke, their eyes shining with wonder – then fear – at the lights that spread and suffused between them.

Sheila Bennett felt the magic flowing through her bloodline, and her mind whispered a prayer.

 _A single memory in your sister's knife… a one-in-a-million odd failsafe for my grand-child to find peace…_

* * *

 ** _a/n_** _: thanks for the reviews! keep them coming & the poll on the next story. (it looks like "summertime" is winning but I'm not closing it until this story is completed.)_

 _story ends soon. are there any loose threads that are left dangling?_


	39. Waking Up

**Waking Up**

 _2012_

Kai Parker opened his eyes with a gasp.

The night sky filled his gaze, stars staring down unchanging at him. He was near the Equator, and the warmth from the ground seeped through his damp clothes.

For 18 years he had been trapped in this empty world. He had memorized every movement of the sun, every change in climate, every sound, every beat of its existence.

Every echo of magic.

Something had changed.

Magic – new magic – thrummed through this world.

Magic… and life.

In his mind's eye, he could almost trace the pull of magic, a bright glowing cord yanking his siphoner's soul to…

What? And why? And to what end?

He would know soon enough. But one thing was certain – after 18 years, he finally had a chance to get out of this god-forsaken place.

No matter what it cost, Kai Parker was not going to waste it.

* * *

 _2013_

Kai Parker opened his eyes with a gasp.

He was lying on his back, and his muscles felt sore, weak like if he had been sleeping for a long time.

The ceiling pattern of his sister's private, possibly illegal, examination room stared down at him. Sluggishly, memory returned to him. The high school. The vampires. Jo.

The needle in his neck.

There was a familiar whining sound in his head and he turned sharply to stare into the pale eyes of that pesky vampire Damon.

He stretched out his hand – and this time he really was going to decapitate him on the spot – but only trails of his powerless essence floated out.

"Ooops," Damon snickered. "Trying to pop a blood vessel in my brain? Not gonna work. Looks like all that magic you sucked up drained away while you were asleep."

How was that possible? Kai thought, still jerking his hand towards Damon in a gesture that he realized must have now looked more stupid than menacing. All that magic… gone?

 _How?_

Just how long had he been asleep?

"Don't worry, I know where you can get more," Damon continued.

Kai blinked. "You really think I'm gonna trust you?"

"No. And I'm not gonna trust you. I just happen to need a magic siphon and you're the only game in town."

Now that sounded promising. Wincing, he pulled himself into a sitting position, then swung his legs over the bed.

Tyler Lockwood's unconscious body lay at his feet. The sight reminded Kai of something, gnawed at the edges of his mind like a tiny hungry rodent.

Weird.

He batted it away.

"Hi," Kai said, courteously.

He was sorely tempted to step over the Werewood. But instead, he gave into his non-existent better impulses and hopped over it.

He stared at Damon and a broad grin crossed his face. "Now, let's discuss my fee."

* * *

 ** _a/n_** _: so i don't know why ff-net didn't send an alert for the last chapter, so make sure you check on that if you didn't read it. please keep reviewing & remember there's the poll on the next story._

 _story ends soon. are there any loose threads that are left dangling?_


	40. Heirs

**Heirs**

 _The day that hell's bells chimed twelve times…._

"I cursed her when I killed them." Abby's voice was tired, lost as she stared at her mother's shade. "They were innocents and I put their blood on my daughter's head."

" _No_ ," Sheila's voice was infinitely sad, infinitely strong. " _I shielded them. They lived. All this while, in a world not unlike this one, my great-grandchildren have been kept alive. And Safe._ "

And as Abby gaped, her mother's ghost told her everything. About the protection she had cast over the twins. About the memory she had woven into Josette Parker's knife.

" _But he merged with his brother first. It was Luke's memories, Luke's heart that filled Malachai. By the time he received his own twin's magic, the memory was so worn, its magic so diluted with her own… Even then, it might not have been futile. It was a seed, after all. Planted, watered, given nourishment, it would have grown._ "

"But it wasn't," Abby whispered. "Instead, it was thrown amongst the thorns. _He_ was thrown back into his hell. Twice."

" _He is no longer in this hell, though. And neither is Bonnie. For the first time_ ," and Sheila's voice was infinitely hopeful. " _They might have a chance._ "

Abby pressed her palms together. "How can I find them?"

* * *

 _Present Day…_

The flames of Hell had been returned into itself. The veils had been temporarily lifted. Had it been by chance or by destiny?

She would never know. What she did know was the truth that her mother had whispered to her in the short moments between the time that every woman that carried the blood of Ayana, had stood behind the last of their bloodline to hold back the fires of Hell, and the time they had returned to the Ether.

 _No,_ Abby corrected.

 _Not the last of our bloodline._

Because now Abby Bennett stood at the crest of the valley watching them – _the last Bennetts._

A girl with eyes the colour of the sea in a storm. A boy with eyes the colour of a calm green lake. They were lazing in the field, the storm-eyed child swinging upside down from a tree, her hair brushing against her hands as she kept trying to swipe her twin's head. The boy was still and studying, curly head bent over his book; but after a while, he sent an irritated bolt of magic up at his sister that she blocked easily, laughing.

Magic oozed from their pores, their auras brighter and more powerful than anything their grandmother had ever seen.

Abby's vampire heart no longer beat, but if it did, it would have been pounding – with grief.

 _So much time lost… So much pain caused… Her own magic cursed… Her child's life lost over and over and over again…_

 _And for what? To pay a price that was never needed? That damned Bonnie, my mother, myself, an entire generation of Gemini witches…_

Abby swiped at the wetness that had covered her face, clasped her hands with resolve.

Twin Parker siphons.

Twin Gemini Bennetts.

The link between Coven and Leader had been broken when the Praetor died. But now he languished in a Prison, a ticking Ascendant away from this World.

A ticking Ascendant and the blood of these children, and their mother - a young woman who had suffered so much and would soon discover the biggest secret of her life.

The greatest heartbreak.

The truth of the greatest betrayal.

But a new threat was rising and by some fluke of time and fate, Abby had a chance to right her gravest wrong.

She won't waste it.

She could almost feel her mother's ghost lay a gentle hand on her arm.

 _It is time._

The End.

* * *

A/N: That's all folks. It's been a great journey and now it's ended. Kudos to my dear beta **keenan24** for going over this story with a fine-toothed comb. You are the best beta I could have wished for. Thank you.

Kudos to everyone who ever stopped by to leave a review or more to this tale of mine - thank you so much from the bottom of my heart.

I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

P.S. There's no expiration date on reviews. ;)


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